No doubt, you always strive to maintain good oral hygiene through daily brushing and flossing. But is it enough? Either you may still be missing few good oral hygiene practices or inadvertently practicing few bad dental habits that may compromise your dental health. As a renowned dentist in Pune, we would like to bring to your notice few habits that you need to avoid and also few of those which ought to be practiced religiously.
Good dental habits:
1. Use tooth only as tooth:
In the first place, tooth should be used only for the intended purpose – chewing and biting your food and not as a tool for grinding and crushing as listed above.
2. Floss regularly:
In addition to brushing twice a day, flossing of teeth should be carried out at least once a day, preferably before retiring to bed. If you are not sure how it should be done, do not hesitate to ask a demonstration from your dentist.
3. Clean tongue:
Having taken care of teeth and gums through good brushing and flossing habits, it is very much essential to clean tongue daily where bacteria thrive. And all it requires is extra few seconds and a professional tongue cleaner!
4. Good brushing techniques:
It is essential to brush your teeth properly by using soft bristled brushes and making circular motions with your brush aligned at 45o with the tooth surface.
5. Make routine dental checks:
There can’t be a better practice than this to achieve good oral hygiene. Make it a practice to visit your dental clinic at least twice in a year for a routine checkup. Needless to say, during the routine visit, your dentist would easily identify any emerging problem which may not be apparently visible to you.
Bad dental habits:
1. Tooth as tool:
We have been gifted with healthy teeth line to chew and bite food particles, but not for opening soda can or tear open a piece of plastic bag. These highly dangerous practices can easily weaken the tooth and may cause fracture too.
2. Tooth as crusher:
How many times we have seen people crushing and chewing ice after enjoying an iced soda or tea. The highly brittle and cold ice particles can lead to a microscopic fracture in tooth and also damage enamel surface.
3. Tooth as grinder:
Out of stress or anxiety, when we actually slide teeth front and back over each other, it can lead to a fairly serious problem of splitting the teeth. Also tooth grinding can be due to abnormal bite, Missing tooth or presence of a crooked tooth too.
4. Thumb sucking and tongue thrusting:
Thumb sucking among kids even after attaining the age of four or inadvertent tongue thrusting against front teeth can lead to open bite and misalignment of teeth.
5. Incorrect brushing:
This is perhaps a common mistake we all make – brushing with hard bristles and excess thrust on teeth, presuming this wrong practice to lead towards better oral hygiene.
Dental treatments to recover from bad habits:
Luckily, dental treatments are available for rectifying damages caused by poor oral hygiene and bad habits. Dental medicine has a remedy for every problem
• root canal treatment for unattended tooth decay
• dentures, and implants for tooth loss
• crowns for chipped teeth
• mouth guards for teeth grinding
• orthodontic devices such as fixed palatal crib for thumb sucking, brackets for tongue thrusting and many more.
But it is always better to believe that ‘Prevention is better than curing’. Hence make it a point to approach our dental clinic in Pune not only to rectify your dental issues but also to start preventive oral care.