Staying at home or working from home, sitting long hours in front of televisions or laptop screens, eating junk food or many other things u do in these days of lockdown must be making u little lazy, little concern about your health. One should not waste time being binge watching or eating only, as it leads to bad impact on your health be it physical wellness or mental health. Instead, this crisis time should be utilised to get into shape by exercising, eating nutritious diet, taking 8 hours of complete sound sleep, indulging in hobbies and others things u love. While taking care of yourself , you cannot neglect your oral health as our full body is connected ,many of systemic diseases have direct link with oral health.  Let’s begin with healthy habits u can adopt for your oral health and hygiene;

9 steps to maintain Daily Oral Hygiene

BRUSHING TWICE A DAY 

Brushing your teeth twice daily for at least two times a day with fluoridated toothpaste is recommended. Make sure u brush gently with a soft bristled tooth brush with proper technique reaching all the places in your mouth for at least two minutes. It is the foremost step in keeping the tooth decay and bad breath at bay.

DIET IS IMPORTANT 

Balanced diet is holistic approach .Green leafy veggies and food items rich in vitamin c are known to be best food for the tooth. It is recommended to increase the intake of citrus fruits like lemon, orange, amla in your diet for your gum health.

FLOSSING   

Dental floss is the best thing one can indulge in their daily routine to get rid of food particles struck in-betweens two teeth because flossing reaches places between your teeth where your toothbrush simply cannot. Be gentle while using the thread avoiding injury to the gums, while rubbing the floss thread wrapping it around the fingers firmly, to get the teeth clean.

USING MOUTHWASH   

Mouth washes freshens your breath, as it contains antiseptic ingredients that help in keeping the number of bacteria count low. It is recommended to dilute the mouth wash solution and use it after tooth brushing in a rinsing manner for better cleaning.

TONGUE CLEANING

Surface of tongue serves the most comfortable ground for the bacteria to stay and grow in numbers. It is advisable to use tongue scrapper to clean the tongue surface as it helps in avoiding bad breathe and clean tongue environment.

INTERDENTAL AIDS FOR CLEANING

There may be number of reasons the food particle accumulates in between the teeth surface. Decay may be the one so many aides are there for cleaning the inter dental areas – like  wooden tooth picks, inter dental brushes, oral irrigators that help in better removal and faster removal of accumulated particles.

AVOID SMOKING & TOBACCO PRODUCTS

Smoking is no doubt very harmful for overall health. Apart from causing oral cancer, it is a well known source of staining, bad breathe, gum and periodontal diseases and apparently tooth fall. It is recommended to quit smoking in which nicotex plays a great role.

REDUCING SUGAR INTAKE

The lesser the better, in case of sugar it is advisable to limit the intake as sugar is directly the cause of tooth decay. After eating foods rich in sugar, these molecules reacts with saliva and bacteria already present in our mouth leading to plaque formation on teeth. In the long turn, this plaque can dissolve enamel, which leads to cavities, destroying the natural tooth structure and causing pain.

SEEING DENTIST REGULARLY

It is very important that you see your dentist every six months and that they give you routine examination and recommend additional guidance and suggestions beneficial for your oral health, that u cannot do at home by yourself.

Adapting these basic steps in the daily routine can help u conditioning the life of your teeth in a longer run and keeping your smile beautiful lifelong. After all beautiful smile is the key to your confidence. Keep smiling keep growing

Dr. Himanshi

Consultant Dental Surgeon

New Delhi