Healthy Teeth – 10 Tips to Keep Your Smile Young
- Watch for unnatural wear and avoid grinding your teeth.
- Take preventive oral hygiene seriously to avoid gum and bone loss.
- Replace faulty fillings before they cause problems.
- If crowns or bridges are worn down, replace them.
- Lighten any discoloured teeth.
- Replace any missing teeth as soon as possible.
- Correct a bad bite.
- Never chew ice or hard candy.
- Ask your dentist for a video intraoral exam.
- Avoid abrasive habits such as aggressive tooth brushing.
How can you look and feel younger?
Dentistry’s role in improving appearance is often misunderstood and underrated. For example, many people believe that only dentures can alter the appearance of their smile, yet nothing could be further from the truth. Such cost-effective techniques as cosmetic contouring, bleaching or bonding often work wonders-typically in a single office visit.
Never stop caring!
Rinse your mouth after every meal or glass of wine, whether red or white. White wine has acids that penetrate the enamel, allowing staining and decaying food particles to penetrate more easily. While on the other hand, red wine creates only superficial staining. However, regardless of whatever you eat or drink, rinsing your mouth with water and swallowing after every meal and drink can help to minimize residue, as well as reduce staining and tooth decay.
Chew sugarless gum. As we age, our salivary glands shrink and produce less saliva, this in turn lessens one of our mouth’s best defences against tooth decay. However, chewing gum can help get that saliva going again.
Floss down into your gums, not just between your teeth. Plaque and bacteria can get stuck in those voids, causing inflammation and decay.
Ask your dentist to check the state of your fillings. Every filling eventually has to be replaced at some point and time. Silver, or amalgam, lasts between 10 and 20 years, so your childhood dental work may be overdue for replacement. Fresh fillings can help prevent tooth decay and loss – and, down the road, root canals and implants.
Consider orthodontics if your teeth have shifted significantly. Your jaw is constantly shifting along with your teeth, and left unchecked, this could create a collapsed look for you. Invisalign or behind-the-teeth braces are the subtlest options for grown-ups. The investment may not be small, but the long term pay off is by far worth it! We even offer in-house financing plans for more expensive procedures like these.