Start The New Year Off Right With These Dental Hygiene Tips From Our Elmhurst Dentist

Written by Dr. Scharfenberg on Dec 16, 2014

This upcoming year, make a resolution to honor and care for your smile in the best ways possible. We promise that you will love the way that your smile looks and feels once you start to follow a high-quality oral hygiene routine.

Our Elmhurst dentist office has the tips and information that you need to maximize your oral hygiene routine. Let’s start with the basics:

· Brush your teeth at least twice a day…and for at least two minutes every time you brush!

· Floss your teeth once a day—don’t skip!

· See our dentist for a professional cleaning at least twice a year (or as recommended by our dental team)

At home you can boost your oral hygiene by taking these simple steps:

· Keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water (and put down those sugary juices and soft drinks!). When you drink enough water you allow your body to produce oral-health-boosting saliva. Dry mouth leads to bad breath and decay!

· Rinse your mouth throughout the day to dislodge dental debris. The longer that dental debris sits in your mouth, the more bacteria are able to feed off of it. So after you eat or drink, rinse your mouth with water to flush these bits and pieces away.

· Talk to your dentist about adding a mouth rinse to your routine if you are struggling with bad breath and plaque build up.

· Chomp on crunchy vegetables—like carrots and celery—when it’s time for a snack. These veggies are good for you, have high water contents, and the crunchy nature of these foods actually help to scrape plaque from your teeth.

For further guidance and help with your smile, please don’t hesitate to call our Elmhurst dentists. We are excited to help you discover the happy, healthy smile that you were born to have!