Good dental habits are cultivated from a young age. Even now, our 1-year-old, Luca is already brushing her teeth daily.. with help from mummy of course.. but you know what they say, good habits die-hard.. so, it’s never too early.
Here are 5 ways to keep a healthy, bright smile for a lifetime!
1. Brush your teeth in the correct sequence and manner
Use a soft toothbrush bristles so that the bristles don’t scratch or damage your enamel surface. Dividing your mouth into sections and spending at least 1 minute brushing each section, both the inner and outer surfaces of teeth.
Paying extra attention to the gum line, hard-to-reach back teeth, and areas around fillings, crowns, and other dental work. Brush your tongue as well.
2. Use the Right Toothpaste for your teeth
In our household we prefer fluoride free toothpaste. Some types of adult toothpaste commonly contains 1,000 ppm fluoride or more. This could cause small children to ingest fluoride at a level that can cause fluorosis of the teeth – seen as mottling, brown or white spots on the permanent teeth. In the long-term, the effects can be even more damaging.. fluoride accumulates in bones, making them hard and more brittle, which means you’re more susceptible to bone fractures or broken bones if you fall. We use a toothpaste with naturally derived ingredients that gently and effectively cleans teeth, such as Young Living’s Thieves AromaBright Toothpaste. AromaBright contains no fluorides, synthetic dyes, artificial flavors, or preservatives. It has instead, Peppermint, Spearmint, and Cinnamon Bark essential oils, alongside a Thieves blend – it has a fresh, spicy mint mouthfeel which is just perfect even for our 1-year-old. Luca quiet instinctively disliked baby toothpastes on the market. She never took to the orange nor fake strawberry flavour, and used to gag after each brush. But she immediately loved AromaBright for its light, almost savory and spicy aftertaste.. go figure. The 1-year-old knows her stuff i tell ya! For me and hubby, we add a drop of Orange essential oil to the AromaBright, and after just 6 days our teeth sparkled.. permanently.
3. Use a light touch and a toothbrush with soft bristles
Brush with short, gentle, circular strokes. Brushing too aggressively can wear down tooth enamel and damage gums. The point is to remove plaque, which does not take much force. A bacterial film, plaque forms between teeth and along the gumline, eating away enamel, weakening the teeth, and leading to cavities.
4. Change your toothbrush regularly
Don’t use the same toothbrush for years! It won’t save you money as you will need more visits to the dentist. Change your toothbrush regularly, and rinse and let it dry after every use to keep it clean and extend its life.
5. Eat the right foods before bedtime
Avoid acidic drinks or sweet foods before sleeping. Also, wait awhile before brushing your teeth if you’ve just had such a meal. Imagine if you have acidity on your enamels brushing would injure the already weakened surface. It’s akin to taking a metal bristle and rubbing in on softened enamel.. you’d very quickly reach the pulp, the innermost portion of the tooth that consists of connective tissue, nerves, and blood vessels, which nourish the tooth. That’s when pain sets in.
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