Dental Health

Why Is Tooth Brushing An Important Part In Maintaining Your Dental Health?

Brushing with toothpaste and following the appropriate brushing action can help you a lot in removing the harmful bacteria and plaque built up in your mouth. This can protect you from a variety of teeth and gum problems like caries, tooth decay, tooth loss etc and provide you better opportunities in life and even in your career!

Fluoride contained in the toothpaste can make your teeth healthier and help in repairing any tooth decay at its inception through remineralization.

Some ingredients of toothpaste are potent in cleaning, polishing and removing any stains present on your teeth.

After brushing your teeth, you will be left with a nice fragrance and flavor in your mouth.

What Kind Of Toothpaste Is Good For Me?

Make sure that your toothpaste has fluoride in it. The brand name, flavor, be it in gel form or powder form etc do not matter at all. Things we expect from toothpaste like protection from plaque, cavities, cleaning potential as well as polishing potential are present in all fluoride toothpastes.

Toothpaste designed for sensitive teeth would be suitable for people who are sensitive to hot or cold food items.

If you choose toothpastes with either hydrogen peroxide or baking soda in it, they would leave your mouth really fresh and may tempt you to brush more often. But they do not provide any extra protection than what the fluoride is doing already.

Toothpastes containing pyrophosphates are marketed as tartar control toothpastes and are preferred by people who want to prevent calcium build up on their teeth. There are other toothpastes providing you a chance to remove stains and brighten up your smile. But they won't be as efficient as a dentist administered bleaching treatment. You dentist can provide you helpful tips on maintaining a healthy dental care routine.

How Much Toothpaste Should I Use?

Toothpaste advertisements always show a heap of paste on the brush. But then they are trying to sell some thing! All you really need to use is paste equivalent to the size of a single pea. Brush all sides of your teeth namely inside, outside and chewing side of your teeth while holding the brush properly at a 45 degree angle. As children under 6 years are known to swallow paste, they need to be provided only a smaller amount of toothpaste.

Different Types Of Toothpastes

Advertisements can be informative. They can be confusing too. The later is true about toothpastes. There are advertisements proclaiming the ability of tartar control toothpastes to control tartar build up. Then there are some advertisements asking you to try whitening toothpastes to whiten your teeth, gum care toothpastes to provide you healthy gums etc. Now which one is the best among these?

Toothpastes Vs. Gels

There is no difference at all between these two except for their physical appearance and flavor. They are both equally effective. Even if gels seem to be easier on the teeth, the silica contained in them can be hard on teeth than toothpaste.

Tartar Control Toothpastes

Scientific studies have shown that these toothpastes do not remove already formed tartar. All they do is prevent new tartar formation. Pyrophosphate is the significant ingredient in these toothpastes responsible for resisting tartar building up. They are able to reduce future tartar build up by 36%. Tartar control toothpastes are not effective in resisting these build ups below the gum line. As these are the build-ups, which can cause gum problems, it is a must to have your teeth cleaned routinely by your dentist.

Gum Care Toothpastes

The efficiency of these toothpastes is not completely proven yet. Instead of the sodium fluoride used in regular toothpastes, these contain stannous fluoride. Stannous fluoride has proven its efficiency to reduce gum diseases through studies. But its efficiency to fight cavities is not on par with that of sodium fluoride. Either one of these fluorides can generally do the trick in any toothpaste.

Baking Soda Toothpastes

There is no existing proof showing these toothpastes to be better than regular ones. But people love the baking soda taste and are prone to brush more often and for longer durations of time. Some of these may contain peroxides and are known to cause gum irritations for some people.

Abrasive Smoker's Toothpastes And Toothpowders

Abrasive Smoker's Toothpastes are supposed to clean smoke stains of your teeth. But these can cause recession of your gum as well as erosion of enamel surface. This is not a smart idea and would be better to get your teeth professionally cleaned by a dentist. And you should stop smoking as well. Otherwise cleaning won't provide the long lasting results you wish for!

Desensitizing Toothpastes

For most users, desensitizing toothpastes worked its magic. People become sensitive to cold, hot, sweet or sour food after their gums recedes and thus exposes the roots. There are always new desensitizing toothpastes coming in to market. Some of the common ones are Senquel, Thermoseal, Thermodent K etc. As some of these brands have different ingredients from others, you may have to experiment among them to get to the right one to suit your needs. Make sure you check with your dentist to confirm that you are not facing this problem due to any unknown major problems.

Whitening Toothpastes

As they can be harsh on your teeth, be extra careful in using them. You should not use it every time you brush. Whitening toothpastes can be helpful, provided you use them once every day or two, in between using your regular fluoride toothpaste. There is clear no proof for their efficiency. There are contrasting reports from users supporting and opposing their efficiency. But some of the brands can be more effective than others. The food consumed by individual users as well as their tooth color can play a part in the results gained from the use of whitening toothpastes. Your dentist may be offer you better solutions for whitening your teeth than this.

Denture Pastes

There are many thousands of people using full or partial dentures. They have to adhere to a thorough dental care regimen. Can they use regular toothpastes? No. They need to use denture cleansers especially designed to clean dentures. The ingredients of denture cleansers typically contain a light abrasive, a detergent and a flavoring agent. In emergency circumstances, you can even use mild hand wash detergent or mild dish washing detergent also. There are special denture pastes with expensive contents like vera and sanguinaria in it. Your dentist can guide you to the right product for your dentures, keeping your specific needs in mind.

Conclusion

Make it a regular habit to brush at least twice a day with a soft bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. Unlike most people out there brushing for just a few seconds, you should brush for a minimum of 2 to 3 minutes. Mastering proper brushing techniques is the most important part of brushing. The brand and type of toothpaste used is only a secondary part. As toothpaste and brush cannot get in between teeth, flossing at least once a day is very important. In order to protect your teeth, the two things you need to always adhere to are brushing and flossing.

Tobacco is a major contributor towards dental decay and ultimately leading to tooth extraction.  If you cannot do without tobacco then make sure you follow a strict dental hygiene routine like brushing teeth atleast 2 times a day, flossing the teeth.  Carry out dental bleaching and recontouring whenever your dentist asks you to, it can reduce the severity of dental decay in future.  Preventive Dentistry is always better than curing a dental disease.