Avoiding The Need For Dental Treatment

Advice on maintaining healthy teeth and gums for our Bedford patients.
Whilst a few people do struggle to maintain dental appointments, perhaps due to having a particularly busy life, or maybe because of dental anxiety; most people do manage to visit our Bedford dental practice twice a year for their ongoing check ups. We are sure that everyone who does so, hopes to leave the practice with a clean bill of health and without the need for an appointment to address a problem we’ve detected.
We have all probably heard of people who frantically clean their teeth the day or so before their check up, in the false hope of correcting any issues, but the fact is that ongoing oral health care is the only way to keep your teeth strong and healthy. With this in mind, our Bedford dentists offer a few key tips below to help you on your way:
- Regular brushing – Regular brushing, morning and night, is key to maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Without this, any other methods, such as using a mouthwash, will be almost irrelevant. Young children should be supervised to make sure that they brush their teeth and don’t simply hold the brush in their mouth. For adults too, brushing correctly is important, using small circular motions to clean the teeth – our hygienist will advise you of the best technique to use. Excessive pressure whilst brushing may cause enamel damage which weakens the protective layer of the teeth and hence should be avoided.
- Choose the right toothpaste – There are a wide range of toothpastes now available and you may wish to choose one according to their specified aims, e.g. for whiter or for sensitive teeth. The important thing is to make sure that your toothpaste contains fluoride as this helps to strengthen the enamel. Whilst most toothpastes do contain this ingredient, some ‘natural’ ones may not.
- Hygienist appointments – Most people probably associate dental problems with tooth decay, but it is actually gum disease that is responsible for most tooth loss. Seeing our Bedford hygienist on a regular basis is an excellent way to help keep your gums in good health. An additional bonus of the ‘scale and polish’ procedure used to remove tartar is that your teeth are also likely to look brighter and feel much cleaner afterwards.
- Interdental cleaning – Whilst most people do brush their teeth, relatively few clean between them using either dental floss or an inter dental brush. Unfortunately, this is where both food and bacteria become easily trapped and is where many dental problems originate. Regular flossing or using an inter dental brush will go a long way to helping you to avoid the need for an invasive procedure to repair decay.
- Reduce your sugar intake – It is common knowledge that sugar is harmful for our teeth and whilst we may not be able to, or even wish to, cut sugar out of our diet altogether, it is worth checking the ingredients in your food. We may not realise it , but even the most savoury food can be loaded with sugar for example. And of course many carbonated drinks are particularly bad for us and are known to have increased the rate of tooth decay in young children especially.
So, our advice at The Dental Centre Bedford is for patients to continue seeing our dentists for a regular checkup every six months or so, but also to ensure that they look after their teeth in the periods in between. By doing so and maintaining a diligent personal health care regimen, there is every chance that the need for an invasive dental procedure will not arise.
If you would like to discuss your dental care in more detail or to arrange a check-up, appointments can be made at our Bedford dentists by calling our team on 01234 819868.