By Karleia Steiner
It is important to regularly visit your dentist to check up on your teeth and ensure they are as healthy as possible. It is just as important, however, to take care of your dental health at your own home. Here are 5 of the worst habits that can contribute to poor dental health.
1. Not Brushing Properly
Teeth must be brushed regularly everyday, at least two or three times. Otherwise, plaque will begin to build and your teeth will begin to go from pearly white to yellow. Gently brush your teeth with a toothpaste containing fluoride. Make sure to brush all teeth with the same motion, covering every area of your teeth. This includes upper, lower, inside and even your tongue. This will help kill bacteria living inside your mouth. Make sure not to brush too hard, this can irritate your gums and erode your enamel.
2. Not Flossing Daily
Dentistry Plus advises us that a toothbrush won’t clear away the plaque building between your gums, but daily flossing will do the trick. Without proper flossing you will also leave your gum open to disease and infection, possibly leading to inflammation or your teeth falling out in a worst case scenario. Flossing also helps remove any remaining bits of food or bacteria hiding between your gums, helping keep your mouth as clean as possible.
3. Smoking
It is common knowledge that smoking can lead to yellow teeth and bad breath, but the dental health risks associated with smoking go far beyond that. People who smoke develop oral cancer at a greater rate than non-smokers, increase their risk of gum disease, and recover slower than non-smokers do from oral surgery. Cigarettes are the most common culprit but pipes and cigars can have the same effect. Smokeless tobacco may not put you at risk for lung cancer, but they do put you at risk for oral, throat and esophagus cancer. The best way to keep your mouth healthy is to skip tobacco altogether, or indulge only on very rare occasions.
4. Grinding Your Teeth
Teeth grinding is a nervous habit that can be difficult to stop, but it is extremely harmful to your dental health. Teeth grinding can put expose your teeth to a great deal of pressure and cause micro-fractures in them, in addition to thinning enamel and worsening cavities. Tooth grinding can also cause damage to dental work done in your mouth. The best way to avoid grinding your teeth is becoming aware of the triggers that cause your nerves, but it might also be worth investing in a mouth guard if you grind your teeth at night.
5. Eating Poorly
It makes perfect sense that what we put into our mouth will impact its health, but it often gets overlooked. Drinking too much soda will expose your teeth to a great deal of acidity and cause corrosion of your enamel in addition to decay of your gum line. Junk food and sweets cause plaque to form quicker than healthier foods. Especially sticky sweets will harm your teeth a great deal when they stick and turn into acid. It is fine to indulge once in a while but make sure to brush properly afterwards and enjoy these foods only in moderation.