By Chie Li Ee DMD and Chrissy Boothroyd
It’s that time of year again to set our New Year’s resolutions. Many people decide to focus on diet and weight loss, but what about focusing on oral health this year? Because they set unrealistic goals, most people abandon their resolutions by February. Here are some simple suggestions to improve your oral health that you can easily keep all year long.
- See Your Dentist for Regular Checkups – By seeing your dentist at least twice a year, you can help prevent any dental health problems before they cause discomfort or require more comprehensive or expensive treatment. Routine dental visits aid in keeping teeth and gums healthy, and may actually help you live longer. Recent studies have shown there is a possible correlation between periodontal (gum) disease and heart related problems (like heart disease). Your dentist can also help detect other medical conditions such as diabetes and cancer that may first present orally.
- Quit Using Tobacco Products – Using tobacco products can increase your risk for tooth discoloration, cavities, gum recession, gum disease and throat, lung and oral cancer. Smokers are about twice as likely to lose their teeth as non-smokers. The good news is that the risk of tooth loss decreases after you quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco.
- Brush at Least Twice a Day and Floss at Least Once a Day -Daily tooth brushing and flossing is a sure and simple way to improve your oral health. Without proper brushing and flossing, you may develop bleeding gums, which may worsen to severely swollen, red, bleeding gums (gingivitis) and, eventually, gum disease.
- Healthier Food and Beverage Choices – Frequent consumption of food and beverages containing carbohydrates and acids contributes to tooth decay, so it is important to brush after snacking. Poor nutrition can affect the entire immune system, increasing susceptibility to many common oral disorders, including gum (periodontal) disease.
- Drink More Water -One of the most important aspects of your oral health is saliva. This fluid helps rinse away plaque and bacteria from your mouth. Drinking plenty of water translates to producing plenty of saliva, so you can keep your salivary glands functioning at their best. In addition to benefitting your teeth, staying hydrated is beneficial for every organ in your body.
- Restorative Dentistry – The New Year may be the right time to start or complete deferred restorative dental work, such as crowns, implants or fillings. Completing these types of procedures will help preserve the tooth structure and maintain proper tooth alignment, which could ultimately improve your oral health. It may seem like a minor problem, but it’s important that you have cavities filled, no matter how small they may be. Decay spreading within the cavity is not painful, which makes it easy to forget that you have decay… until it reaches a critical, painful stage.
The importance of regular dental visits goes well beyond a person’s oral health, so make 2018 the year to focus on getting your mouth healthy. We at Cape May Dental Associates welcome new patients and are committed to providing quality and comprehensive care for all of our patients. Call Dr. Ee at (609) 884-5335 today to schedule an appointment! For more information, visit www.capemaydental.com.
