10 Ways to Preserve Teeth For Life
We all wish we could keep our teeth in a healthy condition for life. While tooth extraction and dental implants are sometimes necessary, preserving natural teeth is always the preferred option.
To help preserve your teeth, limit sugary foods and avoid acidic ones. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins to maintain a balanced diet. Chewing gum after meals stimulates saliva flow, which helps neutralize the acid that erodes enamel.
1. Eat a Healthy Diet
A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and protein is vital for oral health. These foods stimulate saliva, which washes away food particles and neutralizes acids that can erode tooth enamel.
Fresh produce like apples, pears and celery provide teeth-friendly fiber that encourages saliva production. This helps to wash away bacteria that can cause decay and also ward off stain-causing acid from certain beverages.
Cheese provides calcium, phosphorus and other nutrients that help to strengthen and fortify tooth enamel. It can be eaten on its own as a snack or incorporated into a meal such as soup, salad and sandwiches.
Nuts are another tasty option for teeth-friendly snacks and can be a good addition to larger meals. Almonds, for example, are packed with calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A and other beneficial nutrients.
2. Visit Your Dentist Regularly
Your teeth do more than help you smile and say “cheese”—they support your jaw bone, help you eat, and play an important role in overall health. However, a lot of people don’t make the time to visit the dentist regularly for a variety of reasons.
While brushing, flossing and using mouthwash are helpful, they can’t always remove bacteria that builds up between teeth or under dental fillings. Left untreated, this can lead to infection or tooth decay.
Regular visits to your dentist also give you a better sense of your oral health, so you’re more likely to catch problems in their early stages. This typically saves you time, money and stress in the long run. It can even prevent issues from arising that could potentially cost more in the future, like a cracked or broken tooth that requires expensive corrective procedures.
3. Practice Good Oral Hygiene
A good oral hygiene routine is an important step to preserving teeth. It removes food particles and bacteria that can lead to tooth decay, gingivitis, and gum disease.
Regular brushing, using a toothbrush with soft bristles, and flossing at least once per day can help to keep your teeth healthy and prevent decay. A mouthwash with antimicrobial properties can also help to reduce bacteria in the mouth.
The best way to preserve your teeth is to practice good oral hygiene and follow a healthy diet. This will help to ensure that your teeth remain strong and healthy for a lifetime! In addition, it will allow you to enjoy life and express yourself with a smile. Having healthy teeth allows you to speak clearly, chew and swallow nutritious foods, and show your emotions. A smile is a universal language.
4. Avoid Sugary Foods
Sugar isn’t good for your teeth because bacteria in your mouth love it. These bacteria break down the sugar and produce acid that eats away at tooth enamel, leading to cavities and decay. It’s best to avoid sugary snacks and drinks, and instead hydrate with water. This helps wash away leftover sugar and dilutes the acids produced by bacteria.
The longer sugars linger in your mouth, the more damage they cause. Avoid sweets that stick to your teeth like gummy candy or lollipops. Chewing on firm/crunchy foods (like apples and pears) stimulates saliva flow, washing away particles that lead to decay and decreasing the acidity of your mouth.
Watch out for hidden sources of sugar in canned foods, condiments like ketchup and barbecue sauce, frozen meals, and many processed snack foods. Check the ingredients on labels and look for sugars like high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maltose, molasses, and caramel.
5. Avoid Smoking
Smoking has a number of negative effects on oral health, including tooth loss. Among other things, it causes gum disease, tooth decay, bad breath and increases the risk of developing oral cancer.
Smokers are also more likely to lose teeth than nonsmokers. In addition, smoking can lead to swollen or bleeding gums, which makes it difficult for the mouth to heal after dental surgery. This can also cause crowns to loosen, which can further damage the teeth.
Smoking can also cause stains on the teeth from nicotine and tar. These stains can be difficult to remove, so it is important for smokers to maintain good oral hygiene habits and visit their dentist regularly. There are also special toothpastes and mouthwashes designed for smokers that can help to prevent discoloration. Regular cleanings can also help to eliminate bacteria and reduce the buildup of plaque that leads to gum disease.
6. Drink Plenty of Water
Teeth are made of a tough material, but they aren’t indestructible. Just like the rest of the body, teeth weaken over time and can be vulnerable to damage from foods and drinks high in acid. However, proper oral hygiene and two visits to the dentist each year can help keep teeth strong and healthy for life.
Water is one of the best things you can drink to preserve your teeth. It helps wash away sugar from the mouth after a meal and dilutes acid so that bacteria can’t eat away at tooth enamel.
It also prevents dry mouth, which ruins the enamel and makes teeth more susceptible to cavities. In fact, if you brush your teeth after eating, it’s important to wait at least an hour so that the enamel has time to return to normal.
7. Avoid Using Mouthwash
Even if you brush your teeth and floss on a regular basis, mouthwash should not be your go-to when it comes to your oral hygiene routine. Mouthwash kills bacteria that cling to your teeth, but it does not remove plaque, which is the main cause of tooth decay.
Moreover, some mouthwashes, such as those with cetylpyridinium chloride and chlorhexidine, can cause brown stains on your teeth. This is because these rinses do not allow saliva to help balance your PH levels and resist acid damage to your teeth.
However, when you do use mouthwash, make sure to rinse your teeth after you brush and before bedtime to reduce plaque build-up overnight. Also, only use mouthwash that is ADA approved and has fluoride. It’s best to use it as a supplemental rinse and not a replacement for brushing and flossing.
8. Floss Daily
Flossing removes food particles from nooks and crannies that toothbrushes can’t reach. This prevents bacteria from building up, which can lead to tooth loss and other serious conditions like gum disease.
While flossing can be a difficult habit to form, it is crucial for the health of your mouth. Keeping up with this simple daily routine can help you avoid unnecessary procedures and maintain a beautiful smile for life!
To make flossing a part of your routine, set aside a time each day to do it. Whether it’s in the morning or night, choose a time that fits your schedule and stick to it. After all, it only takes a few minutes to floss each day! The sooner you get into this habit, the better! You’ll thank yourself later.
9. Limit Sweets
We can’t give up sweets completely to maintain good oral health, but it is important to limit the amount of sugar that comes into contact with teeth. Sticky foods like taffy, caramels, gummy snacks, and candy corn allow sugar to linger on teeth, increasing tooth decay risk. The same goes for lollipops, which take longer to dissolve and can leave a constant stream of sugar on your teeth.
It is also important to eat sugary treats with meals rather than between meals. This allows saliva to wash away some of the excess sugar and helps neutralize acid that erodes enamel. It’s also a good idea to drink water after eating sweets; this will help wash away any leftover food and sugar. This can help reduce cavity-causing bacteria and keep your mouth healthy. Moreover, drinking optimally fluoridated water can boost your enamel strength.
10. See Your Dentist Every Six Months
It is important to see your dentist every six months to get a regular cleaning and checkup. This will help prevent issues like gum disease and tooth decay. It will also help you catch problems like impacted teeth or oral cancer early. These problems can be very costly if they are left untreated.
Dental professionals can use x-rays to find and diagnose issues that are not easily seen by the naked eye. This can include things like impacted teeth or jaw bone problems, such as a cyst or tumor. Identifying these problems early can save you money in the long run as they may not need to be treated with more aggressive and costly methods.
Healthy, beautiful teeth can last a lifetime with proper care and hygiene. By incorporating these 10 ways to preserve your teeth into your everyday routine, you can make sure they stay as strong and healthy as possible for years to come!
