Facing the facts: Oral Hygiene.
You are often told to brush your teeth but not how or why.
Today I will remove the veil of poor information transference.
The main reason to CLEAN your teeth is NOT to remove remaining scaps of food. Although this is a good thing the main reason to clean your teeth is to remove plaque. If there is plaque and carbohydrates in your mouth the plaque will use the carbs as their food. One of the waste products from the plaque digesting the food, the plaques wee and poos if you like, is acid. The acid dissolves the affected tooth starting from a small pit or some previous damage. The presence of food particles, particularly starch, helps to keep the acid against the tooth and stops it from dissolving in your saliva and being swallowed. Think of bits of starch as being sponges soaking up acid and keeping it against your teeth.
Perversly, if you had candy instead of something starchy to eat, like bread, then when you have finished eating the sugar would dissolve and leave your mouth and the acid production would stop. Not so with the starchy food. Starch is good at sticking onto your teeth and staying there without dissolving.
When you brush you teeth properly the plaque is almost totally removed. It takes quite some time for it to build back up again, particularly if there is no food for the plaque to use for energy.
Brushing your teeth the wrong way stresses your gums,wears your teeth away and forces food in between them.
To clean your teeth propery first let us consider flossing. Your molars have 2 of is 5 exposed sides inaccessable to your brush. To clean them you want to gently drag a piece of floss between your teeth and then, if possible, get it a bit further below the gum line. The next step is to pull it hard against the side of the tooth and drag it off the tooth. Each gap will need to have the floss drawn into it twice, once for the tooth on each side. The idea is to saw it gently in and drag it out hard against the tooth with no sawing motion on the way out. Think of it like you are garrotting the plaque or taking it out with a wire cheese slicer.
Once each gap has been flossed then it's time to brush.
Prepare your brush by wetting it. This stops the liquified toothpaste from working its way into the roots of the bristles and wearing out your brush. It also stops yucky food particles from building up in the bristle roots.
Apply a bead of toothpaste along the tips of the bristles.
DON'T!
Don't brush with an in-out action. The bristles will be following each other and will wear a groove at the gum line. Brushing this way also pushes your gums away from the teeth exposing the dentine of the roots.
Instead, brush by applying the bristles to the gum and drag them up the side of the tooth and off the crown.
To clean the crown brush acrosswards (is that a word?) NOT IN AND OUT!
Brush for 2 minutes, this gives plenty of time for plaque removal and just enough time for the fluoride to harden the enamel.
Now rinse and spit.
Brush after breakfast and brush and floss before bed every day.
The idea is to remove plaque. If you can't feel where it is then chew a dye tablet and concentrate on the pink bits. Having done it with the dye a couple of times you will be able to feel the difference with your tongue and work out where the plaque remains without the dye.
Look after your teeth. One day the dentists may all be gone. (See Below)
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