Are you doing everything that you can to keep your smile healthy and strong every day? Our Santa Monica dentist is here to help you supercharge your at-home oral hygiene routine. Take a look at the info below, to get more info on caring for your smile day to day!
As you probably already know, the key to a good oral hygiene routine is to brush and floss your teeth as recommended by your dentist.
· Most patients should be brushing their teeth twice a day
· Brush once in the morning in order to give your smile a clean start for the day
· Brush once at night before bed to freshen your smile before sleep
· When you brush, use small circular motions in order to gently buff plaque from your dental surfaces
· Try to brush for at least two minutes every time that you brush
· Don’t use a toothbrush that is too abrasive for your smile! Most people will be just fine with a soft-bristled toothbrush
· When it comes to flossing, you want to floss your entire smile at least once a day
· The best time to do this is right before your brush your teeth at night—this allows you to disrupt and dislodge as much dental debris as possible before your brush it away
· As you floss your teeth, make sure to go all the way down into the gum tissue so that you can get rid of floss on your enamel as well as on your oral tissue
· When you start flossing, cut off a long length of floss. Then, move down this long strip as you go from tooth to tooth, so that you don’t contaminate your smile with plaque attached to your floss
Another thing that you can do to give you oral hygiene plan a boost is to incorporate a mouth rinse as a final step in your brushing and flossing routine. There are a number of mouthwash formulations on the market today; our dental team can help you determine what type of mouthwash is perfect for you. The act of rinsing your mouth physically dislodges plaque and dental debris, plus most formulations include additional bacteria-fighting ingredients.
As always, our Santa Monica dentist can help you fine tune your oral hygiene plan. Please feel free to call our office when you are ready to get started!