CLEAN TEETH ARE HEALTHY TEETH
CLEAN GUMS ARE HEALTHY GUMS

Have you ever run your tongue around your mouth several hours after you have eaten and did not have a chance to brush your teeth? They feel sticky and strange, don’t they? That sticky feeling is caused from deposits on the teeth. These accumulations are made up of mostly bacteria, food particles and saliva. Although these materials that collect on the teeth and gums are colorless and barely visible to the human eye, they are very harmful to the health of the mouth. The technical term for these harmful deposits is plaque.

Plaque can be removed from your teeth by thorough brushing and careful cleaning between the teeth. Did you know that even if you cleaned your teeth thoroughly every other day that you would not get that sticky feeling back?

Every day cleaning is even better, of course, but to start off with, it’s better to do a really good job every so often than a superficial job every day. As you begin to experience the new feeling of really healthy gums, you’ll want to extend your efforts to daily thoroughness. In the past you may have been concentrating only on cleansing the teeth themselves.

But now you can get the teeth slick and smooth, and help your gums at the same time. Food and bacteria stick to gums as well as teeth. There are brushing techniques that clean both the teeth and the gums properly.

These techniques will not only clean the gums but also give them the exercise that they need. This exercise stimulates the blood circulation in the gum tissue and helps to keep it firm and healthy so that it doesn’t loosen from the teeth and underlying supportive bone.

Select a soft nylon brush to start with.

It’s best if it’s the type whose bristles have rounded ends. You should be holding your brush at an angle so that each bristle is touching something, either the gum, the gum line, or the tooth surface. The brush should be placed at a 45° angle with the bristles pointing towards the roots, and slight pressure applied.

Note: Keeping the brush in place, a slight wiggling motion left to right of the brush while applying a firm but gentle pressure cleans best.

Ask the dentist or his assistant to show you how to do this properly. Once shown how to do this in your own mouth, it’s a very simple method that you will learn quickly with the proper guidance.

You can determine how well you are brushing by the use of disclosing tablets. The dental assistant and/or the dentist will help you learn how to best use them. Disclosing tablets contain a harmless red dye which will stain any area where plaque is sticking on the teeth and the gums. By chewing one and rinsing the solution throughout the mouth, you can check yourself with a small mouth mirror while looking into another mirror. Any areas that you have missed, where plaque has not been properly cleaned away, will show up by the bright red stain. Your job is to keep on cleaning until you reach the goal of removing all of the red stain from the teeth and the gums. You will need to go back and reclean any areas that need it.

A good self help method is the use of a disclosing tablet at home periodically. The successfulness of this cleaning project is a joint effort of you, your dental assistant and your dentist.

Another necessary ingredient to the success of a healthy mouth and no cavities is dental tape. Flossing will take you no more than 5 minutes a day, and once you get good at it, will take less time.

The combination of good brushing and flossing in between is essential to keeping teeth for a life time.

It’s your best method for that all important business of cleaning the spaces between your teeth.