Healthy Smiles for National Dental Hygiene Month and Beyond
How much time do you spend on your smile? Do you like the way it looks and feels? October is National Dental Hygiene Month—an effort to spread awareness about the importance of maintaining good oral health. A healthy smile can provide you with advantages that affect your appearance and your overall wellbeing. And, good dental hygiene is easier to maintain than you may think. With a little know-how and biannual dental checkups in Bend, you can celebrate positive oral health during this month and beyond! Read on to learn some easy tips for clean teeth and gums.
It All Starts with Your At-Home Routine
Especially during this season of sugar, daily cleaning is key to keep problems like cavities and gum disease away from your smile. The easiest way of doing this is to brush your teeth twice a day, for two minutes each session. Be sure to angle your brush at a 45-degree angle on your gumline for a thorough cleaning. You should also floss once a day to remove any lingering plaque and bacteria in between your teeth. For extra dental hygiene points, add an ADA approved, nonalcoholic mouthwash to your routine to clean areas of your mouth that can’t be reached with brushing and flossing.
Halloween, and the holidays soon after, tend to bring many sweets and treats with them. While it’s okay to indulge, do your smile a favor and watch out for any especially acidic, hard, or sticky candies. These sweets love to hang out in your mouth for long periods of time, increasing your risk of tooth decay.
Checkups & Cleanings: Appointments You Should Never Miss
In addition to your at-home routine, be sure to see your dentist for regular checkups and cleanings. These appointments remove plaque and tartar that couldn’t be reached on your own. However, they also serve as potentially lifesaving visits. Dentists alone catch around 84% of oral cancers, which is completely treatable if detected early on. They also look for problems like gum disease, infection, cavities, and tooth decay, finding these issues early to prevent more expensive and extensive treatment in the future.
Why Dental Hygiene is Important
So why is there a whole month dedicated to dental hygiene? There are many reasons, but one of the most important answers is that your oral and overall health are linked. Recent research has continued to show a relationship between problems with oral health and your overall wellbeing. Gum disease, a problem that affects half of the US population, can increase risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular problems by 20%.
Now that you know about the significance of good oral health, use these tips to celebrate Dental Hygiene Month for October and the rest of your life!
Meet the Dentist
As a dedicated dentistry professional and member of the Dental Assisting Advisory Board at Central Oregon Community College, Dr. Benjamin De Graff firmly believes in quality education. That’s why he wants you to know how important it is to keep your smile healthy. For any questions, he can be reached through his website form or by phone at (541) 382-3691.