7 mistakes you make while brushing your teeth
"Regular brushing twice a day will save your teeth from cavities and gum disease!" – this is usually something you hear a lot, but is it really true?
Actually, it's not really like that.
The health of the mouth, teeth and gums depends on several factors. The brushing technique should be correct, the choice of brush adequate, and the time you devote to oral hygiene is not so important, but the way you devote yourself to it and take care of your oral health is much more important.
In this article, we bring you the 7 most common mistakes that patients make when taking care of their oral and dental hygiene, as well as tips on how to change your bad habits.
We are often told that brushing your teeth regularly is the key to a healthy smile, but the truth is that this alone is not enough. Oral health depends on a number of factors, including proper brushing technique, choosing the right brush, and additional care such as using interdental brushes or flossing. Also, it is important to pay attention to habits that can damage dental health, such as skipping check-ups at the dentist or consuming food and drinks that damage tooth enamel. Education and changing bad habits are the key to long-term preservation of oral and dental health.
Proper oral hygiene is not just a routine, but a key step towards keeping your teeth and gums healthy. By avoiding common mistakes and applying proper brushing tips, you can significantly reduce the risk of dental problems and ensure a healthy and beautiful smile in the long run. Your attention to detail in everyday care makes a difference!
These are 7 mistakes you make while brushing your teeth:
1. Wrong choice of brush
This is perhaps the most common mistake that patients make. By choosing a hard brush, they usually think that they will brush their teeth better, but on the contrary, in this way they only injure the gums and damage the gingival fibers, which break, and allow the penetration of bacteria. Hard brushes are intended for dental prostheses, cleaning covers and the like, but for natural teeth, the softest brush is always the best choice. Without additives, thick and soft, such a brush will not hurt the gums, and will adequately remove plaque from the surface of the teeth and under the gums.
2. Wrong brushing technique
Patients usually brush their teeth vigorously, thinking that this will remove plaque and bacteria as well as possible, but this is not the correct way. The gums are very sensitive and any rough movement towards them will cause the fibers to break and damage. The technique should be very careful and gentle, without horizontal movements. Half of the bristles of the brush should be placed on the gums, and half on the teeth, and rotated under the gums at an angle of 45 degrees and with light and small circular movements, without pressure, brush the teeth.
This technique will remove plaque and deposits without hurting the gums and damaging their structure.
3. Using an old toothbrush
An old toothbrush is a major source of bacteria. If you don't change it regularly, it will accumulate bacteria from plaque and the environment, which you then "brush" into the tooth enamel even more when you brush. It is also recommended to change your toothbrush after every cold or flu, because of the bacteria that have caused inflammation or sore throats and tonsils.
4. Do not use interdental brushes
An ordinary brush, no matter how soft and gentle it may be, cannot clean the spaces between the teeth, because its fibers cannot reach those spaces. Interdental spaces are one of the most common places where plaque and food remains accumulate - that is, in addition to the necks of teeth and fissures and pits, caries predilection place, i.e. the place where caries is easiest to appear.
Therefore, the use of toothbrushes is necessary, because with a regular toothbrush you brush 60% of the surface of the teeth, and the remaining 40% remains unbrushed. The use of these brushes should be just as important as the use of a basic toothbrush and floss, because it is part of basic oral hygiene.
The choice of toothbrush is also very important – they come in different sizes, since each interdental space requires a different size of brush. You can use special probes, or visit a dentist, to determine which brush is right for your teeth. If you are not able to do this measurement, you can always start with the smallest one, and later, as your gums recover from the accumulated plaque, you will need a larger brush.
Interdental brushes are very easy to use - they are placed against the interdental space, pushed between the teeth and come out. Very easy, simple use that everyone should practice in order to maintain above all a healthy, but also a beautiful smile.
What you need to know is that if you have never used interdental brushes, your gums will definitely bleed when you first use them. This is a normal reaction and should not scare you or discourage you from using them. On the contrary, after a few days of regular use, you will notice that the bleeding has stopped, your gums will take on a natural and healthy light pink color, and the bad breath that was previously caused by plaque will no longer be noticeable, unless you have other oral diseases or cavities.
5. Change the floss with mouthwash
It is much easier for patients to rinse their mouths with mouthwash than to devote themselves to oral cavity hygiene with floss and interdental brushes. However, you should know that water is a hygiene aid and should not be part of everyday use. The composition of the water is very important. It should have some active ingredient that will act on the bacteria from the plaque, and if it doesn't, you've wasted your money. Waters with alcohol are especially bad - alcohol dries out the mucous membrane and does not allow the natural washing of plaque from the teeth with saliva, which leads to additional retention of plaque, and due to the strong feeling that alcohol leaves in the mouth, you have the impression that you have thoroughly cleaned your mouth.
6. You forget the language
The tongue is part of the oral cavity, just like the teeth, cheeks, and gums, and it also tends to accumulate plaque. It is especially susceptible to this because of the grooves and grooves on it, which are ideal places for food debris. Therefore, when brushing, do not forget the tongue. It is a good idea to use special tongue cleaners that are designed specifically for this purpose to achieve impeccable hygiene.
7. You skip brushing your teeth.
Finally, something that many patients do in our doctors' experience. If you skip brushing your teeth for just one night, you have allowed bacteria to multiply and the next night there are twice as many of them as the previous day. Regular hygiene is something that is mentioned as a priority when we talk about hygiene. In order for it to be effective, in addition to being correct, it must also be carried out regularly.
Take care of your oral health because it is much more than teeth - it is the initial part of the digestive system, and any disease of the mouth can also affect the gastrointestinal system. A healthy diet, rich in fiber and avoiding food that sticks to the teeth or has a lot of sugar is something you should get into the habit of. Although today there is a solution for everything in dentistry, healthy natural teeth are the most valuable. Regular check-ups and visits for examinations can detect diseases of the teeth or oral mucosa in the initial stage, when it is much easier to treat and treat. Pass on healthy habits to your children - some of the little ones learn with you how to properly take care of the health of their teeth and mouth, because good habits acquired in childhood will certainly continue throughout their lives.