Stop Sabotaging Your Smile: 10 Common Oral Health Mistakes You’re Making
It’s not difficult to understand why you should take care of your teeth. But even after it’s clear to you that oral hygiene works wonders for your looks, health, and confidence, it’s a bit tricky to look after your dental wellness every single day.
It’s because there are several habits that look pretty harmless at the surface, but negatively impact your oral health in the long run. This makes it important for you to learn about these bad practices and stay away from them at any rate.
To help you learn more about them, here are 10 common oral health mistakes you need to avoid.
1. Not Brushing Your Teeth Twice a Day
When it comes to taking care of your oral health, hygiene takes priority over everything else. That’s why, while dentists adopt ideal cleaning practices for dental clinics, you need to make sure that you brush your teeth twice a day. This keeps bad bacteria, food particles, and stubborn stains away from your teeth.
2. Skipping Out on Flossing Your Teeth
Gone are the days where flossing was thought of as going above and beyond for dental health. Now, it’s established as a basic practice to take care of your oral health. Even when you have veneers made in a dental lab, flossing between your teeth can help fight off plaque, gum disease, and bad breath.
3. Not Cleaning Your Tongue
If you don’t clean your tongue, the food you eat and the beverages you drink can leave residue over it. Besides looking unsightly, it can also cause bad breath and harbor bad bacteria. That is why, it’s crucial that you use a tongue scraper to gently clean your tongue at least once a day.
4. Not Eating Fresh Produce
When you munch on leafy greens like kale, juicy fruits like apples, and crunchy vegetables like carrots, it helps your mouth produce saliva to wash off bacteria and prevent dryness. To follow this habit without breaking the bank, you can get your produce from an affordable groceries market.
5. Excessively Consuming Sugary Drinks
Whether you are looking into common causes of tooth pain or risk factors behind gum disease, excessive consumption of sugar without good dental hygiene often stands tall as one of the main culprits. It’s because when sugar particles get stuck to your teeth, they can break down your natural tooth enamel and lead to a range of dental problems.
6. Not Drinking Water Throughout the Day
Dry mouth can occur due to various reasons like smoking, alcohol consumption, and certain medications. But it can also stem from dehydration and lead to issues like gum disease and tooth decay. This is why it’s important that you continue drinking water throughout the day with solutions like a travel water bottle.
7. Avoiding Yearly Dental Checkups
Everyone should visit their dentist at least once a year. This helps you get timely treatments like dental scaling and also detects worrisome issues before they get out of hand. You can set reminders to make it to your dentist appointments and even find dental insurance that covers these visits for you.
8. Regularly Smoking Cigarettes
When you look for the most common causes for loss of teeth, you can find smoking in almost every list. Besides causing problems like dry mouth, smoking can also weaken your immune system and make it difficult for you to fight off common tooth infections. This calls for you to quit smoking and turn to healthy habits like exercise instead.
9. Drinking Alcohol Regularly
Alcohol is another socially acceptable habit, but it is also detrimental to your oral health. This practice can trigger dry mouth and heighten your risk for gum disease and tooth loss. If you can’t let go of alcohol consumption, you can turn to a digital alcohol rehab program to bid farewell to this habit.
10. Chewing on Ice
Many people like snacking on ice, especially when it’s hot outside. But no matter how angry the sun might get, breaking down ice with your teeth can damage your natural tooth enamel. This could open doors to issues like cracked teeth and even tooth loss. Due to this reason, you should steer clear of this practice.
By keeping these dental wellness mistakes in mind, you can take care of your oral health with the attention it deserves. This can help you maintain a picture-perfect smile for years to come and keep your teeth, gums, and mouth healthy.