Homecare may be an underrated part of dentistry. There is a lot of impetus, and rightly so, put on regular dental visits and expert dental care. However, the fact remains, that the majority of the care your teeth receive comes from you and you alone. For this reason, patient education should be the focus of any dental practice so that every patient develops good homecare habits. Your Allen dentist, Dr. Marco Cueva, shares four tips to help you improve your homecare.
Four Homecare Tips
- Use about 18 inches of dental floss. Not using enough dental floss can make your flossing less effective. Eighteen inches is a good length because it allows you to use new sections of the floss continually as you work your way through your mouth. Using clean floss is important because if you use the same section of floss, you may just spread bacteria around your mouth rather than remove it.
- Brush twice per day. Brushing too often or too little can be damaging to your oral health. If you don’t brush often enough, bacteria can attack your teeth. If you brush too often, you can wear away the enamel on your teeth and damage your gums.
- Brush with small, circular movements. Brushing this way cleans teeth very effectively. You should also angle your toothbrush toward the gum line and focus on one or two teeth at a time. Lastly, be sure that you brush the front, back, and top surfaces of every tooth.
- Don’t brush your teeth immediately after drinking coffee. Coffee is an acidic beverage, and the acid it contains can strip enamel from your teeth. However, you do not want to brush your teeth immediately after finishing your coffee because you can accelerate enamel loss. Instead rinse your mouth with water to remove any lingering acid.
Schedule a Visit with Your Allen Dentist
Regular dental visits are another important part of your oral health. If more than six months have passed since your last dental visit, schedule an appointment with your Allen dentist, Dr. Cueva, today. Our 75013 dental office welcomes patients from Allen, Plano, Richardson, McKinney, Frisco, Fairview, Murphy, Wylie, Lewisville, Carrolton, and surrounding communities.
