Teeth and health_How to care for your teeth

Teeth are tissues exposed to the outside and are also one of the important organs for us to absorb nutrients from the outside world, so we should protect our teeth well. If teeth are not kept properly clean, it is easy to cause toothache and diseases such as periodontitis, which can cause great damage to the teeth. If you want to avoid tooth infection, you need to pay attention to dental hygiene and brush your teeth frequently, avoid eating at night without brushing your teeth, and avoid eating too sweet foods.

1. Teeth tapping

It can enhance the health of tooth supporting tissues, just like exercising the body, and it can also stimulate the secretion of saliva and clean the tooth surface. The method of tooth tapping is simple and everyone can do it. The method is: close your lips, and make tapping movements with your upper and lower teeth in the up and down directions, tapping more than a hundred times each time. Do it every morning while brushing your teeth to develop a habit.

Dental care 2. Brushing teeth

This is the most common method. People are brushing their teeth, but not many people brush well and seriously. The so-called brushing well means brushing every surface of each tooth cleanly. Brush your face at least once a day, morning and evening.

The correct way to brush your teeth is to brush your upper teeth in a circular motion from top to bottom, and your lower teeth in a circular motion from bottom to top. The inside of the upper and lower front teeth should be brushed along the gaps between them, and the chewing surfaces of the teeth should be brushed back and forth. In order to brush the teeth surface more cleanly, you must choose a health toothbrush with a small brush head and soft and elastic bristles.

To prevent tooth decay and periodontal disease, it is best to use a toothpaste containing sodium fluoride or chlorhexidine. Toothpaste containing sodium fluoride or strontium chloride can also relieve tooth sensitivity.

Dental care 3. Flossing

Some foods become embedded in plaque and are difficult to remove by brushing. It is best to use a dental probe to gently pick out the embedded food and clean the plaque. Some people are used to using toothpicks, but be sure not to use too much force to avoid injuring the gums or even causing alveolar bone absorption.

Dental care 4. Rinse your mouth

Remember to rinse your mouth. Rinse your mouth with warm water after meals or after flossing your teeth to remove any food debris left in your mouth. In ancient my country, people advocated gargling with tea, which is a good way because tea contains fluoride, which can prevent tooth decay, and tannins, which are also good for preventing gingivitis.

Adding a little salt to the mouthwash, generally a slightly salty taste is best, which also has a certain effect in preventing gingivitis. Adding certain drugs to mouthwash, such as 0.2% chlorhexidine or 0.2% sodium fluoride solution, can have a better anti-caries effect. Chlorhexidine solution is also beneficial for removing dental plaque.

Dental care 5. Chewing exercises

Chewing exercises are to fully exercise the chewing muscles. Eat more hard and rough foods rich in fiber (such as beans, celery, etc.), chew them thoroughly when eating, and don't swallow them whole. This can exercise the chewing muscles, jaw bones and alveolar bones, and strengthen the health of tooth supporting tissues. Thorough chewing can also stimulate the secretion of saliva, which has a good effect on oral self-cleaning.

Dental care 6. Gum massage

It can promote blood circulation in periodontal tissues, enhance the metabolism of tooth supporting tissues, and correspondingly enhance the disease resistance of teeth.

Gum massage can be performed inside or outside the mouth. When performed inside the mouth, it is best to do it in the morning and evening after brushing your teeth. Wash your hands, put your index finger into your mouth, press it on the gums on the labial and buccal surfaces and the lingual surfaces of your teeth, then rub it in a circular motion from front to back. Then rotate from back to front, do this back and forth 20 times, then do the other side, and then the tongue side. When doing it outside the mouth, close your lips and press the upper and lower lips and cheeks with your right hand or the fingers of both hands to knead them, but pay attention to reaching the upper and lower gums. Divide into six parts: upper, lower, front, middle, and back, and do each part more than 20 times.

When chewing food, you should also pay attention to overcoming the bad habit of chewing on one side. People who have this bad habit often have a bulging and hypertrophic maxillofacial area on one side, which affects their appearance. The teeth on the chewing side are clean and the periodontal tissue is healthy, while the teeth on the other side are accumulated with a lot of tartar, and the roots and even the periodontal tissue are inflamed.

Dental care 7. Early treatment and early prevention

There are three causes of dental caries. One is that food contains a high content of sucrose, which is very harmful to teeth. The second is bacteria, which adhere to the surface of teeth with food residues, ferment sucrose to produce acid, thereby destroying the calcium and phosphorus in the tooth tissue. Third, the structure of the tooth itself is related to the occurrence of caries, such as deep pits and fissures, uneven arrangement of embedded teeth, and overlapping. In this way, food debris can easily be retained and blocked, and even cause caries.

If the patient's tooth decay is not treated in time and the cavity becomes deep, it will invade the dental nerve and cause pulpitis. Some even affect the tissues around the tooth roots. In severe cases, it can cause swelling, pain, and fever in the maxillofacial area, and may also lead to systemic diseases such as rheumatic myocarditis, glomerulonephritis, and iridocyclitis. Therefore, early treatment is extremely important.

Shallow caries has no subjective symptoms. Caries are irritating and painful when exposed to cold, heat, sourness or sweetness. Deep caries produce severe spontaneous pain and may also cause facial swelling.