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Celebrate World Health Day with Benefits for Your Teeth: When to Buy a Toothbrush, Check for Cavities, and How to Do Exercises to Straighten Your Bite
07.04.2024 10:00
It seems that there is nothing complicated about using a toothbrush or regular prevention of oral diseases.
But, in our experience, many people neglect small but very important rules or exercises that save dental health.
Today, April 7, is World Health Day. Eleonora Ukleykina tells us how to celebrate it in a way that is beneficial for your teeth.
Change the brush
The first and simplest rule in preventing oral diseases is to change your toothbrush regularly. You shouldn't use the same one for several months.
Even if there are no signs of wear, such as unraveling of bristles, this hygiene item should be changed at least once every three months. After any surgical interventions in the oral cavity, immediately take a new brush.
If you are treating gingivitis or periodontitis, change your brush at least once a month. Some manufacturers write expiration dates on the packaging - even if the bristles look "normal", the bristles lose elasticity over time and perform their functions worse.
Pay attention to brushes with a color marker - when the special color layer on the bristles is worn off, the brush needs to be replaced.
When purchasing an electric toothbrush, immediately consider purchasing replacement heads. Experience shows that electric assistants cope better with plaque on teeth, but the cleaning heads also need to be changed regularly.
There is no need to specially "give" your teeth any special paste. Hygienic pastes of one brand can be used for a long time, there is no special addiction to them.
But there are rules for pastes with a more active composition, for example, whitening pastes can be used no more than 2-3 times a month. Medicinal pastes are usually used for a month.
The best option: 4 months of hygiene + 1 month of treatment and prophylactic composition. But it is still advisable to hear advice about the products that are right for you from your personal doctor.
Carry out disinfection
Rinsing with water after brushing does not disinfect the brush. Therefore, it should be stored vertically after brushing, without contact with other brushes. You can leave the brush overnight in a glass with an antiseptic mouthwash, if it contains an active substance that will kill bacteria, such as chlorhexidine.
You can also process brushes in special sterilizers. Disinfection should be done at least once a week.
Book a preventative cleaning and checkup
You should visit your dentist and have your teeth professionally cleaned at least twice a year. But the development of caries is facilitated not only by poor hygiene and insufficient regularity of visits to the doctor, but also by certain characteristics of the body or diseases.
For example, caries is provoked by xerostomia - this is increased viscosity of saliva or a decrease in its production. It occurs with endocrine diseases, such as diabetes, stress, and some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys.
Saliva performs not only a digestive function, secreting enzymes, but also a protective one. It contains antibacterial substances that reduce the activity of pathogenic microflora in the mouth, and also participates in the formation and swallowing of the food bolus - food particles do not linger on the gums and around the teeth.
If you have dry mouth, seeing a doctor can help identify the underlying condition and treat it. But it will also be a way to take care of your teeth.
Other less obvious causes of caries that are worth monitoring include a deficiency of fluoride, calcium, and phosphorus.
There are two ways to correct mineral metabolism disorders: include foods rich in these elements in your diet, take vitamin and mineral complexes prescribed by your doctor, and carry out fluoridation using special pastes or physiotherapy with applications.
Make an appointment with an orthodontist
An abnormal bite or crowded teeth influence the development of a number of diseases: from caries and increased tooth wear to diseases of the ENT organs and gastrointestinal tract, and even provoke early tooth loss. And it is impossible to correct the bite without orthodontic intervention.
The doctor may prescribe gymnastics to prevent bite disorders. For example, with a deep bite, you need to strongly push the lower jaw forward, standing and putting your hands behind your back, and in an exercise for a mesial bite, you need to put your lower lip under the upper teeth.
But performing any movements without a doctor’s prescription can only worsen the problems, for example, affect the functioning of the temporomandibular joint.
There is no need to completely eliminate exercises from the arsenal of orthodontic treatment, but this is an exclusively auxiliary method that works for children whose dental system is still developing, or together with wearing braces or aligners.
But you shouldn't choose it as an alternative to braces, for example, because they seem ugly to you. The correction method can be effective and aesthetic at the same time - aligners (transparent orthodontic caps) cope with most bite anomalies and are invisible in the mouth.
Previously, we talked about the beneficial properties of mustard and whether it is worth including in your diet.
