Maintaining dental health: expert advice

Maintaining Dental Health: Tips for Fewer Dentist Visits

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A healthy and well-groomed smile is not only our calling card, but also an indicator of overall health. Preventive dentist visits are essential to avoid extensive tooth damage or hard-to-treat gum diseases. And although it is not possible to completely avoid dentist visits, by carefully following oral hygiene and adopting healthier habits, we can reduce the need for extensive and often expensive dental procedures.

In this article, hygienist at the Health and Beauty Center Adoria Anita Preisa provides practical tips on how to preventively reduce the risk of tooth caries and other oral problems!

Tips for Maintaining Dental Health

To prevent tooth caries risk and avoid gum diseases, the most important is to follow regular and thorough tooth and mouth care hygiene, but no less important is to monitor your diet and perform preventive dental procedures that will maintain dental health in the long term, while also preserving aesthetic tooth appearance.

Tooth and Mouth Care, Choosing the Right Products

• Brush teeth at least twice a day using fluoride toothpaste. Spend about 2 minutes on tooth brushing, and remember that this time does not include the time needed for flossing and mouth rinsing.
• Adults are recommended to choose toothpaste with 1350–1500 ppm fluoride content. Such concentration provides effective protection against caries, helps remineralize tooth enamel and inhibits bacterial spread.
• The optimal amount of fluoride in toothpaste for children depends on age. From the appearance of the first tooth in the mouth, fluoride toothpaste with 1000ppm fluoride content should be used. Since the child cannot spit out the paste at this age stage, it should be used in a rice grain size.
• For tooth brushing, it is advisable to use a toothbrush with soft bristles that do not traumatize the gums. If you experience increased tooth sensitivity daily or gum diseases have been diagnosed, choose a toothbrush with extra soft bristles.
• Remember that when brushing teeth, not only all tooth surfaces, but also the gum line and tongue should be thoroughly cleaned.
• To prevent bacterial spread risk, the toothbrush is recommended to be changed every 3–4 months or sooner if the bristles are visibly worn or an infectious disease affecting the oral cavity has been overcome.
• If it is not possible to brush teeth immediately after meals, try to rinse your mouth with clean water, thereby getting rid of food residues.
• Interdental spaces cannot be reached even with the most modern electric toothbrush, so interdental cleaning agents – dental floss, interdental brushes, irrigator, etc. – must be included in the tooth care routine. Remember that irregular interdental cleaning most often promotes tooth caries spread.
• To ensure additional tooth and oral protection, mouthwash can be used after brushing teeth, precisely following the dental hygienist's instructions on the product's dosage. Choose alcohol-free mouthwash to prevent oral mucosa dryness and excessive irritation. However, it is important to remember that mouth rinsing does not replace mechanical tooth brushing and flossing.

Healthy Diet

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• Follow a balanced and healthy diet, as our eating habits are one of the most significant factors affecting oral health.
• Daily, it is advisable to limit the consumption of refined carbohydrates (sugar, white flour) and acidic food products, as they lower the oral pH level, promoting tooth erosion and caries development risk.
• After consuming acidic/sugary food products or drinks, it is recommended to rinse the mouth with water or use sugar-free chewing gum (not longer than 10–15 minutes) to neutralize acids and stimulate saliva secretion.
• Try to include quality meat products, fruits, vegetables, dairy and whole grain products containing calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D and other nutrients essential for dental health in your diet.
• To strengthen teeth and maintain normal jaw function, try to consume fresh hard fruits and vegetables, including apples, carrots, pears, etc.
• If you want to preserve the natural tooth tone or maintain the tooth whitening effect as long as possible, reduce the consumption of staining drinks, including coffee, tea, red wine, colored carbonated drinks.

Regularly Visit the Dental Hygienist

• If you want to avoid extensive tooth damage or periodontal diseases, it is important to regularly perform professional dental hygiene.
• Dental hygienists for both children and adults should be visited no less than once every 6 months.
• Pregnant women, diabetes and heart disease patients, patients with diagnosed periodontal diseases, smokers, as well as patients with dental prostheses or braces should visit the hygienist every 3–4 months.
• The dental hygienist will professionally remove tooth plaque and also tartar, which cannot be removed at home.
• Also, the dental hygienist will provide individual recommendations for improving tooth and oral hygiene and caries prevention.

Tooth Fluoridation – For Dental Health Prevention

• Deep tooth fluoridation is an effective caries prevention method that strengthens tooth enamel, promotes remineralization and significantly reduces tooth caries risk.
• During this procedure, a tooth enamel sealing varnish is applied to the tooth surfaces, filling tooth enamel micro-cracks, thereby protecting teeth from caries.
• For patients with tooth sensitivity or exposed tooth necks, tooth fluoridation will help prevent pain and discomfort caused by consuming certain food products, thermal irritants, tooth brushing.
• Deep tooth fluoridation is especially recommended for children and adolescents during permanent teeth growth period, thus timely protecting teeth from damage risk, as well as before orthodontic appliances (braces, plates) installation, during their wearing, or after removal, providing additional tooth enamel protection.

To ensure dental and oral health for life, it is important to combine both individual care for daily tooth care and oral health maintenance, as well as professional dental care, choosing quality dental services.

What factors to consider before choosing a dentist? Read the article “How to Choose the Right Dentist: The Most Important Factors to Consider” and get useful tips!

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Professional Dental Services at Adoria Dentistry

Entrust the care of your dental health and beauty to the professionals at the Health and Beauty Center Adoria! General dental therapy services, pediatric dentistry, dental hygiene, prosthetics and other dental services all in one place, Riga, A. Čaka Street 70–3!