Oral Hygiene

Oral Hygiene is the most important aspect of dentistry

If you do not take care of your teeth on a daily basis, your destined have trouble with your teeth. Not cleaning and maintaining the health of your mouth will eventually lead to failure of all these fancy procedures we provide to repair and replace your teeth.

Bacteria

Why do we all get cavities? Bacteria. Why do we get Gum Disease? Bacteria.

Bacteria is the root of almost all our dental problems. It accumulates on our teeth, gums, and bone. The acid produced by by bacteria desolves your tooth resulting in a hole or a"cavity". When the bacteria starts to infect the gum tissue and bone, then we term this gum disease. After you have a meal or even those little snacks you forget about, these bacteria grow and multiply at an exponential rate. If you have gone a day or two without brushing your teeth, you know how this film of bacteria feels. It is produced all around your mouth and throat. This film or "plaque" of bacteria is eating the food you eat, not just candy or sugar. Sugar is like steroids for the bacteria, they can grow much faster when you eat sugared candy.

Although sugar and high sugar based foods do make it easier for bacteria to cause problems, these bacteria can use all kinds of food. If left on your teeth & gums, the bacteria is free to process the food into acid and other damaging toxins. The most effective tool to combat this problem is your toothbrush and a piece of floss.

Sip & Snack All Day, You Will Get Decay!

Brushing is the most effective method for removing harmful bacterial plaques from your teeth and gums. Getting the debris off your teeth and gums in a timely manner prevents bacteria and the food you eat from turning into harmful, cavity and gum disease causing bacterial bi-products.

Flossing is an essential tool for your oral hygiene. The act of brushing your teeth is only removes bacteria and their toxins from the outer surfaces of your teeth. All those nooks and cranny's are left untouched. The best way to access these areas is with that thin piece of thread. It scrubs where the brush is unable to access.

Brushing & Flossing provides the majority of the mechanical or physical breakdown of bacterial plaques. Breaking down the colonies of bacteria helps prevent their ability to cause disease, thus preventing you from acquiring dental problems.

Waterpik's are essentially appliances which rinse your teeth. After you have brushed and flossed your teeth, there is still debris left behind. When you swish and rinse, you are removing the bulk of this debris. Just as your floss accessed the nook and crannies, the waterpik forces water down in those areas rinsing the bacterial debris away. The waterpik in no way replaces the act of brushing and flossing your teeth, but it is a helpful adjunctive appliance.

Electric toothbrushes are a great addition to your arsenal of oral hygiene instruments. They are definitely not cheap, but purchasing a quality electric toothbrush will help provide you with better oral health. When using a conventional toothbrush you need to swirl the bristles in a circular motion. This helps remove the debris on your teeth and under you gums. Your hand can roughly rotate your tooth brush 10-12 circles every couple few seconds, the electric toothbrushes can complete 20-30 circles in the same time frame. Basically they can clean efficiently, resulting in less bacteria and toxins on and around your teeth.

Ease of Use
Whereas you have to move a regular manual toothbrush back and forth along your teeth, power toothbrushes provide the cleaning action for you. That means you need only guide it along the surfaces of your teeth. Once you get the hang of it, many people find this method of brushing easier and faster. Likewise, people with arthritis or other similar conditions may find using a power toothbrush less painful. Power toothbrushes may also help kids brush their teeth more effectively, but sure to check the age recommendations on an electric toothbrush before letting your child use it.
More information can be found on our educational videos page.