The ultimate cheat sheet for your healthy mouth
The ultimate cheat sheet for your healthy mouth
Other than smoking or substance abuse, known to damage the mouth, there are lots of lesser known practices that tend to damage the teeth and the tissue around it. Find out if you are doing any of the stuff to damage your mouth. (I shall be excluding smoking and tobacco use in this post as they are the most obvious inflicted reasons for bad oral health)
1. Do you brush immediately after eating?
You need to stop this IMMEDIATELY. After meals, the minerals of the outer surface of the teeth dissolve in the saliva and the tooth and the saliva form a buffer together. Brushing immediately after a meal is extremely damaging to the teeth. It very rapidly dissolves the teeth resulting in sensitivity and rapidly developing cavities. Over a period of 30 minutes the tooth re-mineralize and it is safe to brush. Solution: Wait for a minimum of 30 minutes to brush your teeth after a meal. If the meal had large amounts of sugars or acidic substances, you need to wait longer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. This applies only for brushing. You can swish immediately after eating.
2. Do you brush back and forth?
The mineral crystals of the tooth are oriented in such a way that back and forth brushing results in their wearing off. It is recommended to brush at an angle of 45 degrees to the chewing surface in circular strokes. Brushing back and forth leads to tooth sensitivity over time which starts with sensitivity to cold foods. Solution: Make sure you brush in circular strokes. Do not apply excessive forces during brushing and use a brush which has bristles of medium hardness. Hard bristled brushes result in wearing off of teeth.
3. Dou you rinse immediately after brushing?
Although a very common practice, it is recommended NOT to rinse the paste out immediately after brushing. The paste has many chemical substances that kill the bacteria and prevent cavities. Rinsing the mouth immediately after brushing prevents the chemical action of the toothpaste to take place, thus brushing just becomes mechanical cleaning and not mechanical and chemical. Solution: Spit the paste out after brushing and then wait for around 10 to 15 minutes, before rinsing your mouth with water.
4. Do you bite your nails?
Biting nails is not only damaging to the nails, but to the teeth as well. Along with being unhygienic, and introducing millions of bacteria in the mouth, long-term biting of nails can result in wearing off of the teeth. The nails being hard, scrape on the surface of the teeth and result in damage to the enamel (the outermost surface of the tooth). This can eventually result in Tooth sensitivity initially, progressing to more grave conditions that could result in the requirement of rehabilitation of the entire mouth which is a tedious and time-consuming process. Solution: Generally as adults the habit of biting nails is during stress situations. Be conscious about the habit and stop it as soon as you realize it. You could also apply some bitter nontoxic substance on your fingertips which would give you a bitter taste every time you unknowingly start chewing on your nails.
5. Do you drink lots of fizzy drinks?
As attractive and yummy they are, carbonated drinks are extremely acidic and damaging to the teeth. Drinking carbonated drinks very often equates to literally dissolving the teeth. The teeth are made up of calcium minerals and are very prone to dissolve with anything acidic. Solution: Consume acidic carbonated drinks to the least. Always use a straw to enjoy your favourite drink as it reduces the contact of the drink with the tooth surface, reducing the damage.
6. Do you consume excessive amounts of tea/coffee or alcohol?
Along with staining the teeth, consuming excessive amounts of theses beverages also reduces the salivary flow. A reduced salivary flow makes the teeth more prone to tooth cavities and diseases of the soft tissue of the mouth, including some pre cancer conditions Solution: Reduce the consumption of theses drinks. Whenever consuming them drink a glass of water along with to counter the dehydration.
7. Do you open bottles with your teeth?
This is an absolute NO. Opening bottles with teeth not only damages the teeth leading to their increased wearing off and tooth sensitivity, but the sharp edges can also inflict wounds to the tongue and cause bleeding that might be difficult to stop. Solution: ALWAYS use a bottle opener to open bottles.
8. Do you clench your teeth?
Mostly done unknowingly, clenching teeth is a common practice during stress situations and generally occurs while sleeping. The most obvious sign of clenching teeth at night (known as nocturnal bruxism) is soreness of the face in the morning and sudden onset of sensitivity. Solution: If you notice that your face is sore in the morning contact a dentist and find out the best treatment option available for your situation.
9. Do you sleep with your mouth open?
Sleeping with the mouth open can cause increased cavities in the teeth, bad breath, and diseases of the soft tissue of the mouth. The main reason of sleeping with the mouth open is blockage of the nose while sleeping, which might be due to some recent incident of flu or a long-standing reason of enlarged tonsils. Obesity can also result in compression and blockage of the nose while sleeping. With the most common symptom being dryness in the mouth on waking it could also present as bad breath despite good oral hygiene practices. Solution: Figure out the reason of sleeping with an open mouth and consult a doctor to know the best solution available for your situation.
10. Do you have sugar often/ multiple times during the day?
Sugar also causes demineralization of the mineral crystals of the teeth. Having sugar multiple times increases the frequency of the remineralisation-demineralization cycle in the mouth, thus damaging the teeth. Solution: Sugar should be taken at a minimum and preferentially only twice or thrice a day BEFORE MEALS. These practices would limit the damage to the teeth
11. Do you brush only once?
Known by almost everyone but rarely complied with, brushing twice a day is extremely important to keep adequate oral hygiene. The bacteria present in the mouth form bacterial colonies on the tooth as soon as half an hour after brushing. These colonies are generally disrupted by eating and saliva. During night the salivary flow is decreased thus the bacteria form colonies on the tooth more easily. Thus, it is very important to brush twice with night being the more important time of brushing Solution: Make sure you brush twice a day. It’s more important to brush at night before going to bed than in the morning.
12. Do you chew from one side preferentially?
Again a relatively common practice, chewing from one side is very harmful to the teeth and the supporting tissue as well and needs to be corrected as soon as possible Solution: Get a reliable solution to this issue by fixing the underlying reason that’s causing the chewing from one side.
13. Do you have sharp edges on your teeth?
Wrong chewing practices, eating and biting on hard and sharp things and broken tooth surfaces lead to sharp-edged teeth. These teeth damage the surrounding soft tissue causing wounds and ulcers. If there are long-standing ulcers in the mouth due to sharp teeth, they can be an indicator of a cancerous condition. Solution: If you feel that there are constant wounds/ ulcers on your tongue or check, find out the reason for it. If sharp teeth are resulting in it get the edges rounded.
14. Do you ignore oral health in general?
Oral health is as important as general health and requires attention. Also dental diseases are generally irreversible and progress with time. Ignoring initial symptoms lead to a more severe form of the diseases, that requires more invasive treatment. Solution: Get regular dental consultations even about the smallest issues you are facing.
