04.03.2020
If you follow the rules of oral hygiene, your mouth looks healthy and your breath is fresh and pleasant. This means that:
If your gums are sore and bleed when brushing or flossing, and you have persistent bad breath, see your dentist. These symptoms may be a sign of disease.
A dentist or dental hygienist will help you learn how to maintain good oral hygiene and point out areas of the mouth that need special attention when brushing and flossing.
What are the methods of maintaining good oral hygiene?
The most necessary condition for healthy teeth and gums is to maintain good oral hygiene. Healthy teeth are not just a component of attractive appearance and well-being. It is also a guarantee of good nutrition and intelligible speech. The health of your body as a whole largely depends on the condition of the oral cavity.
Daily prevention, including proper brushing and flossing, can prevent the development of oral diseases, and these procedures are less painful, expensive, and problematic than treating lesions that could be stopped at the initial stage.
Between regular visits to the dentist, each of us should follow simple recommendations that significantly reduce the risk of developing caries, periodontitis, and other oral diseases. These include:
Position the brush at a 45° angle to the gums and make rotational sweeping movements from the gums to the tooth.
Clean the outer, inner, and chewing surfaces of each tooth with gentle backward strokes;
Gently clean the surface of the tongue - this freshens breath by removing bacteria.
The best prevention of gum and tooth disease is comprehensive care for them, which includes the following:
1. Personal hygiene at home - you need to brush your teeth at least 2 times a day for 3 minutes, in addition to using floss or interdental brushes, and rinses.
2. Proper and balanced nutrition: eating vegetables, fruits, and dairy products. Try to replace sweets, cookies, and chocolate with natural sweets, such as dried fruits.
3. Preventive examinations at the dentist 2 times a year.
Undoubtedly, one of the most important and integral stages of preserving dental health is professional oral hygiene, which consists in removing soft plaque and tartar with the help of special tools and professional equipment. The health of the whole body depends on the condition of the oral cavity, in addition, fresh breath, healthy teeth, and gums give you confidence in your unique smile.
It is known that there is a large number of different microorganisms in the oral cavity. In addition, there is always a nutrient medium for them - food debris, which even with the most modern personal hygiene products cannot be cleaned at home. Microorganisms together with food form soft plaque.
The waste products of plaque microorganisms are acids, which in turn not only provoke inflammation of the gums, and the formation of caries but also destroy the bone in which the teeth are located. Plaque accumulates over time, especially in hard-to-clean areas, and inflammation of the gums begins, in which they lose elasticity, become dark red and begin to bleed during meals or daily brushing. Under the influence of minerals and salts in saliva, soft plaque mineralizes, becomes hard, and eventually forms tartar. It is supragingival and subgingival (invisible). Supragingival calculus has a yellow color, it is located in the gingival area, and is visually noticeable, while the teeth seem to be "glued" together, there are no gaps between them, and the tongue feels an uneven "rough" surface. There are also cosmetic problems because tartar has a more porous structure, it easily absorbs dyes and can acquire brown shades from coffee, cigarette tar, etc.
Subgingival calculus is more dangerous because the patient does not notice it visually and does not feel it with the tongue, such a stone is located in the so-called "tooth-gingival" sulcus - the area where the gums are tightly adjacent to the tooth, but not attached to it. When such a stone appears in the gums, the following changes occur: under the influence of a chronic inflammatory process, the ligament of the tooth is destroyed, and at the same time the bone around the tooth begins to resorb, and it eventually becomes mobile. Also, a characteristic unpleasant odor appears in the mouth. Such changes allow bacteria to penetrate the blood system and spread throughout the body, the tooth becomes a source of infection, which can lead to chronic diseases of various organs and systems, including the cardiovascular system.
Gum diseases can occur at almost any age, but they are most common among the adult population of the planet.
That is why it is necessary to consult a dentist if you notice at least one of the following symptoms:
To avoid such problems and maintain the health of gums and teeth, we recommend professional hygiene 1-2 times a year in the absence of periodontal disease. It is worth remembering that no matter how thoroughly and often you brush your teeth yourself, this procedure cannot be equated to professional hygiene, where professional equipment and specialized products are used.
Take dental floss about 45 cm long, and each time use a clean 3-5 cm long section to brush your teeth.
Clean the interdental spaces with gentle movements, following the contours of the gums.
Do not forget to clean the surface of the teeth below the gum line, avoiding sudden movements with the floss.
Today, the leading direction of medicine, and dentistry, in particular, is prevention, because it has been proven that preventing the disease itself is much easier and less expensive than treating it.
Yaremenko Daryna
Dentist of the polyclinic
(с) 2024
