Maintaining Oral Hygiene

Oral hygiene is keeping your mouth, especially your teeth and gums, clean and healthy.

Why is oral hygiene a necessity?

Oral health is related to the general health of your whole body. Millions of microorganisms can take shelter in your teeth and gums. They can lead to diseases of the heart and kidneys. Seniors, pregnant women, and those who have problems of diabetes and cancer need to be even more serious about their oral hygiene.

What can you do to maintain oral hygiene?

You need to do the following six things to maintain oral hygiene:

1 Brushing your teeth

Ideally, you should brush and rinse your teeth after every meal. As it is difficult to follow this as a routine, you should brush and rinse twice at least, in the morning when you get up from bed, and in the night before you go to bed.

It would be better to use fluoride toothpaste. After brushing and rinsing the teeth, use the same brush to clean your tongue too. Gentle gum massaging in circular motion with your index finger can strengthen your gums, preventing gum recession.

2 Flossing

It is normal for food particles to get stuck between the teeth and under the gums. Plaque is a mass of bacteria that grows usually between the teeth and along the gum line; it is in the form of a colorless deposit first, and later becomes a pale yellowish hardened coating called tartar.

It is not possible to clean such plaque and food particles with a toothbrush. Instead, a dental floss (a kind of thread) is used to clean them conveniently and effectively. Various lengths and types of dental floss are available in pharmacies.

3 Visiting your dentist periodically

You need to visit your dentist periodically, once in six months, for checkup and cleaning of tartar also known as calculus.

4 Diet routine

A balanced diet routine ensures not only your general health, but also your oral health. You may take several kinds of foods you love. However, you need to be moderate when it comes to foods rich in sugars and starches. They are responsible for producing the acids that lead to tooth decay and other oral conditions. Snacking between meals too is harmful.

5 Stopping the use of tobacco products

It is medically proven that tobacco products like cigarettes, cigars, and zarda lead to numerous general and oral health problems. Cancers of the mouth, throat and food pipe, bad breath, and tooth stains are a few examples of such problems.

6 Giving up alcoholic drinks

Alcohol consumption is a high-risk trigger of cardiovascular diseases. It aggravates liver, breast and colorectal cancers. It is six times more harmful to oral health.

These six things, if regularly done, will surely help keep oral hygiene.