Keeping Your Teeth Healthy

Tips for Good Oral Hygiene

Did you know that there's a lot more to good oral hygiene than twice-daily brushing, twice-yearly dental visits and flossing? Here at CIGNA Dental, we thought it might be helpful to compile information to help you protect those pearly whites.

Dental Cavity Risk Assessment

Buy the Right Toothbrush!
Brushing daily is one of the most important things to keep your teeth healthy. Proper brushing helps remove food, stain and plaque. It also disrupts the process of plaque formation and stimulates gums. Choosing the proper toothbrush is the first step in brushing correctly. It is important to find a toothbrush that reaches every surface of every tooth comfortably. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), manual toothbrushes can be just as effective as power toothbrushes. In general, choosing a toothbrush that has an angled head, soft bristles and approval from the ADA is the best choice. Your toothbrush should be replaced every three months, after a cold or illness or as soon as the bristles lose their shape.

Establish Good Oral Habits for Your Children
You'll always remember your child's first smile. As your children start getting teeth, teaching them good oral care becomes very important. It is much easier to teach a young child good habits than it is to break an older child of bad ones.

Basic preventive tips to help your child maintain good oral health:

Establish good oral health habits early. When your child is 12 months old, you can begin using toothpaste when brushing his or her teeth. Only use a pea-sized portion on the brush and press it into the bristles so your child won't eat it. Later, when the gaps between your child's teeth close, it's important to start flossing.
Serve as a good role model by practicing good oral health care habits yourself.
Schedule regular dental visits for family check-ups, periodontal evaluations, and cleanings.
Check your child's mouth for the signs of periodontal disease, including bleeding gums, swollen and bright red gums, gums that are receding away from the teeth, and bad breath.

Gum Disease May Lead to Heart Attacks and Strokes
Evidence has shown that heart disease and strokes may be closely related to the health of your gums. According to research at the University of Minnesota, two kinds of bacteria breeding in dental plaque around inflamed gums can lead to blood clumping. This is the first step towards forming a clot that can trigger a heart attack.

Once bacteria is present in your gums it can easily enter your bloodstream and travel to major organs and begin an infection. This may also contribute to the development of heart disease and increase your risk of stroke.

Warning signs that you may have gum disease include:

Red, swollen or tender gums
Bleeding while brushing or flossing
Gums that pull away from teeth, loose or separating teeth

Although you can't guarantee you'll never have a heart attack, you may be able to reduce your risk by daily brushing and flossing. You still need to visit your dentist for an exam and cleaning twice a year, or as recommended by your dentist, because some times the signs of gum disease are not noticeable. If plaque isn't removed each day by flossing, it hardens into a hard-mineralized substance called tartar. Even if you think you're doing a GREAT job flossing, you'll still miss about 20% of the plaque in your mouth. Only a dental professional can remove the tartar and plaque you may miss while flossing.

A Guide to Basic Brushing
Removing plaque is essential to good dental health. If plaque is allowed to remain on the teeth for 24 to 48 hours, it can harden into calculus, which can lead to gum disease and possible tooth loss. Once plaque forms into calculus, only your hygienist or dentist can remove it. Be sure to brush your teeth at least twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste. Brush gently with very short strokes and enough pressure so that you feel the bristles against the gums. The tips of the bristles do the cleaning, so don't squash them. Remember to change the position of the brush frequently, moving slowly across all the surfaces of every tooth.

Keeping Your Gums Healthy
You might be surprised to learn that 32 million work days a year are lost due to dental problems. One of the main causes is gum disease. It's the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. There are several types of periodontal disease, but they all have one thing in common: they all lead to destruction of the gums and/or bone supporting the teeth.

The main cause of gum disease is bacterial plaque. Plaque can be minimized with daily brushing and flossing. If it isn't, it hardens on the teeth, forming a substance know as calculus. Toxins produced by the bacteria in the plaque irritate the gums and destroy supporting tissues. Gums pull away from the teeth, forming pockets that fill with more plaque. Unless treated, the bone that supports the teeth may be damaged and teeth can be lost.

Since gum disease is often painless, its progress may go unnoticed. That's why it's important to have regular dental check-ups. When detected early, gum disease is easily treated. Detection involves regular dental exams to check the color and firmness of the gums, how the teeth fit together and perhaps x-rays to evaluate the bone supporting the teeth. These precautions should be part of every complete dental exam. Maintaining a balanced diet and not smoking are also good preventive tactics.