How Routine Dental Care Can Prevent Dental Issues

Routine dental care helps you to avoid a variety of dental issues like tooth decay, and it helps to maintain an attractive smile. Taking good care of teeth starts with consistent oral hygiene. Brushing twice a day, flossing daily, and biannual visits to the dentist can save you thousands of dollars over a lifetime.

Preventing dental issues with routine dental care

To develop a better understanding of how routine dental care affects the health of your teeth and gums, let us take a look at how two of the most common dental issues – tooth decay and gum disease – develop and how oral care can help to prevent them.

How oral bacteria affect dental health

Gum disease and tooth decay are both caused by bacteria that live in the mouth. We all have these germs in our mouths, and they consume leftover food particles left on teeth. These microorganisms feast on the sugars in these food particles and they excrete acids afterward. The acids eat away at teeth structures leading to cavities.

Oral bacteria also create a clear, sticky film called plaque which houses bacteria and the acids they make. Plaque coats teeth surfaces, speeding up the decay process. To make things worse, it hardens after a while and turns into tartar. Tartar is equally bad for teeth, but unlike plaque, it cannot be removed from teeth by brushing. A professional tooth cleaning performed by a dental professional is required to get rid of plaque on teeth surfaces. Tartar can get into gum pockets, infecting the tissues there. The condition is called gum disease and it can lead to the total loss of teeth when left unaddressed.

Now that we have a better understanding of how dental issues develop, let us take a look at how good dental care helps to protect your teeth and gums:

• Removes plaque from teeth surfaces: Brushing and flossing get rid of plaque from teeth surfaces, preventing it from damaging teeth and hardening into tartar. Dentists recommend brushing after meals to remove leftover food particles so bacteria in the mouth can create acids that damage teeth. Anyone who finds that too demanding should at least aim to brush their teeth twice a day. Flossing is just as important since it removes tartar from interdental spaces
• Re-mineralizes teeth: Brushing teeth with a fluoride-infused toothpaste and using a fluoridated mouth rinse helps to rebuild damaged enamel that might have been eroded by acids in the mouth. Enamel is the outer layer that protects teeth. Damage to it leaves the rest of the tooth vulnerable to decay
• Limits things that damage teeth: Good oral care habits like avoiding sugary foods or opening packages with teeth keep teeth healthy in the long run. Sugar promotes tooth decay while biting on hard things can damage teeth enamel

Prevent dental issues with good oral care

Take good care of your mouth and you will not have to spend a lot of time in a dental chair getting extensive treatments. Call or visit our Evans clinic to learn more about how to take care of your teeth and gums.

Request an appointment here: https://www.belairdentalassociates.com or call Belair Dental Associates at (706) 426-5520 for an appointment in our Evans office.

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