by U Shine Dental � Maple-Vaughan | Oct 2, 2018
Oral home care is the work that you, as a patient, do at home to keep your gums and teeth strong and healthy. It is this care, in combination with your hygiene maintenance appointments, which really work to keep your teeth and gums healthy.
At your hygiene maintenance appointments, we assess your teeth and gums and recommended a hygiene maintenance schedule that is tailored specifically to you. However, without your help, the work that we do for you in the office will be compromised if your teeth are neglected at home.
The best practice is to brush twice daily, once when you wake up and once before you go to bed. Manual tooth brushes work well, but remember not to scrub too hard at your gum-line as you can damage the gums. Electric tooth-brushes release bacteria from the teeth and hard-to-reach areas because of the vibration and mechanical scrubbing. They often produce better results than manual brushing. Electric brushes are especially good for kids and patients who find manual brushing difficult. Brushing your tongue is also very important as it holds a lot of bacteria, and is often neglected.
Be sure to floss once daily or use Soft-Picks which we may introduce to you at your hygiene maintenance appointments. If we recommend additional tools or rinses to help your gums, try your best to make them a part of your daily routine.
Simply put, home care is the most important thing you can do to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Bacteria is the cause of most problems in the mouth, and your efforts are critical to keeping it under control. Your teeth and gums will be healthier and the dental work you do have will last much longer with great home care.
