Life is busy for many Bridgewater residents. At times, it’s impossible to get all the “gotta do’s” done, and many are postponed or dropped altogether.
Sometimes your car has to wait another 500 miles for an oil change. Or you are a month late replacing your furnace filter. Or you realize that you’ve had a leaky faucet for as long as you can remember.
Many important things get put on the back burner, but Smiles for Life Dental Care urges you not to disregard vital dental care.
Here are some prevalent dental care shortcuts. Are you guilty of any of them?
Rushing Through Brushing
Your teeth deserve an attentive two minutes or more. Slow and methodical beats quick and dirty. Use a systematic approach to make sure you get every tooth. Playing one of your favorite two- or three-minute songs may help you go the distance.
Only Seeing Your Dentist When You Have a Toothache
We hope none of our patients put off examinations and cleanings. When you feel tooth pain, it may be way too late to prevent a filling or even a root canal.
Neglecting Professional Cleanings
When softer plaque turns to calculus, you can’t clean it away with a toothbrush. Six-month cleanings help get rid of the calculus or tartar before it can weaken your enamel or irritate your gums.
Using Floss Picks Instead of Dental Floss
While it’s better to floss with a floss pick than to not floss at all, it’s important to recognize that floss picks can only clean a part of the tooth’s surface. A floss pick holds just a small length of floss stretched in a straight line. Looking down, a tooth is shaped somewhat round or oval.
A straight piece of floss just doesn’t make sense geometrically because it doesn’t conform to the shape of the tooth as well as traditional floss. When you wrap a string of floss completely around the circumference of a tooth, you can more thoroughly clean that crucial area around and just below the gumline. We have seen patients who are vigilant floss pick users who developed decay in a very small crack the floss pick bypassed day after day.
At Smiles for Life Dental Care, we encourage our patients to practice preventative dentistry to shield their smiles for life.
