Make Your At-Home Dental Hygiene Better

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Over the years, the practice of brushing and flossing your teeth each day can grow to seem mundane. You still recognize the importance of doing it, but you might have grown less diligent in how well you brush and floss your teeth each time. Today, we examine a few ways you can improve your at-home dental hygiene, and in doing so, reduce your risks of developing common, but highly preventable, oral health concerns (like tooth decay and gum disease).

Brush and floss your teeth with purpose

The most important thing to remember about your dental hygiene routine is that the point of it all is to keep your teeth and gums clean. Every day, different types of oral bacteria accumulate on your teeth and along your gum line, using food particles to get stronger and produce plaque. Brushing twice a day and flossing at least once is meant to remove this plaque buildup on a regular basis, before it has a chance to calcify (or harden). Once it does, you can’t brush or floss it away anymore.

Be consistent, and never skip a day

Because the point of good hygiene is to keep your teeth clean, and because calcified plaque can’t be cleaned away, the consistency of your dental hygiene routine is essential to the health of your smile. Skipping even one session at the sink can give plaque time to harden by the time you do brush and floss your teeth again. Lack of consistency is one of the reasons why many people develop concerns like tooth decay or gum disease, despite otherwise being diligent when they clean their teeth and gums. Therefore, maintaining a consistent routine is essential to the success of your dental hygiene, and your ability to protect your smile from common concerns.

Pay attention when you’re away from the sink

Paying attention to what you’re doing when you clean your teeth is the only way to clean them successfully, but good hygiene and your oral health depend on more than just cleanliness. In addition to excessive bacteria buildup, there are many other things that can threaten the health and integrity of your teeth, such as grinding them together constantly or eating too much sugar, too often. To improve your dental hygiene routine’s effectiveness, be mindful of how you treat your teeth between brushing and flossing them, as well.

Learn more about improving your dental hygiene

Even if it seems natural, practicing consistently good dental hygiene may take a bit more effort than you realize. To learn more, call our Cleveland Family Dentistry office in Cleveland, TX, today at (281) 592-1234. We also serve the residents of Kingwood, Conroe, Livingston, and all surrounding communities.