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Top 10 Ways to Protect Your Perfect Smile

Everyone wants to have a perfect smile, and the best way to make sure of that is to practice good oral hygiene consistently. The added bonus of taking care of your smile is that you prevent a variety of other future dental and medical problems such as gum disease, infection, bone loss, heart disease, and even strokes. Along with regular check-ups and trips to your favourite dentist for a cleaning, you too can incorporate techniques into your daily routine to ensure pristine oral hygiene and care. So, what are the Top 10 Dental Hygiene Steps that we recommend to promote and maintain great oral hygiene? Here's our detailed and informative rundown:

1. Make a Visit to Your Dentist in Ottawa (on a Regular Basis!)

Many folks are religious about regular visits to their dentists – but this isn't true of everyone. Regardless, a regular visit is key if you intend to ensure healthy and perfect teeth. Most dentists recommend that their clients visit at least twice a year in order to have a full hygiene treatment performed. Along with comprehensive cleaning and assessment, during your regular visit, be sure to ask your for x-rays intended to help detect and prevent future dental treatments from occurring.

2. Are You Flossing? If So, How Often?

Let's be honest – most people think flossing is a time-consuming chore, and they often forget to do it, especially if they are rushing out the door or heading to bed. However, flossing is key if you intend on ensuring healthy gums. can also help you remove food particles and other detrimental substances that brushing regularly cannot – especially those hard to reach particles. No matter how often you brush, the benefit of flossing is that it allows you to get to those hard-to-reach places that are deep between your teeth where even the best toothbrush bristles or mouthwash cannot reach or wash away. To maintain mouth cleanliness, we recommend flossing at least once a day, ideally more – once in the morning (or even after meals), and once in the evening before bed.

3. Brushing: You're Doing This, But Are You Doing it Right?

On a day-to-day basis, one of the easiest ways to help keep your teeth clean is by brushing. And not just any type of brushing, but a particular technique. When brushing your teeth, we recommend positioning your brush bristles at an angle of 45 degrees near the gum line. Both the gum line and the tooth surface should be in contact with the bristles. To ensure the best clean, brush the outer surfaces of the teeth using a back-and-forth, and up-and-down motion. Try your best not to brush rigorously, but gently in order to avoid bleeding. To clean the inside surfaces of the teeth and gums, repeat the same 45-degree angle with back-and-forth and up-and-down motion Proper brushing also includes the surfaces of your tongue and the roof of your mouth, so don't forget to complete these steps. Doing so will ensure that you remove bacteria in other areas of your mouth, and reduce the potential for bad breath. Dentists recommend trying to brush your teeth, tongue and roof of your mouth at least twice a day. This helps prevent acid buildup in your mouth that results from the breakdown of food by bacteria. You can even brush more if you so choose. However, if your daily activities prevent you from brushing that often, try at least to rinse your mouth thoroughly with water after eating. Doing so will help you reduce the amount of food and bacteria that is left behind in your mouth.

4. Whatever You Do, Don't Forget to Use Mouthwash

Mouthwash probably isn't the tastiest liquid to put in your mouth. But it is effective and necessary if you intend to wash away the bacteria left behind in your mouth. Dentists recommend using mouthwashes containing chlorine dioxide because they effectively kill unwanted and unhealthy bacteria and maintain the needed and healthy bacteria in your mouth. The added benefit of mouthwash? It can help maintain good breath while ensuring strong teeth. While mouthwash cannot do all the work of maintaining oral hygiene, it is an essential companion to brushing, flossing, visiting your dentist and eating and drinking well. If done consistently, mouthwash will help make the difference between a stinky and unclean mouth, and a mouth that is in pristine health.