Home Dental CareThe foundation for a healthy smile begins at home. There are three important parts to an effective home dental care habit: Nutrition
Without getting too complicated, make sure your diet and the diets of your loved ones include plenty of calcium-rich foods, such as dairy products and dark green, leafy vegetables plus plenty of other nutrient-rich vegetables. Try to include raw vegetables as part of your daily diet as well. Limit the number of sweet, starchy or carbohydrate-filled snacks and replace them with fresh fruits and vegetables. Also, drink plenty of water, which naturally rinses the mouth. Avoid sweet, sugary drinks, especially sodas, as they are able to transport those sugars to tiny pockets in and around your teeth where harmful bacteria love to hide and eat. Brushing
Regular brushing disrupts the collecting colonies of bacteria and removes their food source, keeping them under control. This is why we advise all our patients to brush their teeth twice a day for 2 to 3 minutes each time. Twice a day with a soft bristled brush We also recommend using a soft bristle brush. Every time you come for an exam and cleaning we’ll give you the kind we recommend. You may think you really want to scrub your teeth when brushing, but this isn’t so. The large, broad surfaces of the teeth are pretty easy to keep clean. It is the gumline and between teeth where the food and sugars collect, where the bacteria live and feed. When you brush, place the bristles of your brush against the flat surface of the inside our outside of your teeth and slightly angle them toward your gums. You then brush in small somewhat circular motions, back and forth over each tooth, allowing the soft bristles to also slip below the gumline and massage the gums. This is why you don’t use stiff bristled brushes. Don’t press too hard, because you don’t want to damage the gums or push them back away from the teeth. When you brush the biting surfaces of your teeth, again use gentle, small scrubbing motions. Pay particular attention to the back teeth as this is a favorite for bacteria to do their damage. When you have finished brushing you teeth remember to also brush the roof of your mouth and especially your tongue. This will help clear the bacteria that loves to hide in the crevasses of your tongue and that can contribute to bad breath. Electric Toothbrushes Electric toothbrushes can be helpful for many people in their oral health care habits. But not all electric toothbrushes are created equal. On advantage is that electric toothbrushes can created the proper small scrubbing motions for you while you direct where to apply the action. The smaller heads can also reach places where it is difficult to reach by hand. Click here to learn more about electric toothbrushes and the kinds we recommend . Toothpaste
We recommend using a fluoride toothpaste. Period. If you want to choose a toothpaste that whitens or is for sensitive teeth or is a tartar controlling formula or is mint-flavored or is striped or … go right ahead. But please select a fluoride toothpaste. Fluoride helps strengthen the enamel of teeth, making them more resistant to the acids caused by bacteria. Fluoride is a good thing, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. How much toothpaste should I use? For Children –– Parents, generally children use much more toothpaste than needed. For the average child, how them how to put about a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on their brush. Also teach them to rinse their mouth and spit out the water and toothpaste when they are done. It is recommended that children do not swallow their toothpaste. For Adults – In spite of the beautiful photos of a swirl of toothpaste on the end of a toothbrush that toothpaste manufacturers like to use in their advertising, the amount of toothpaste needed for proper cleaning is only enough to cover the ends of the bristles. You really don’t need to have worked at Dairy Queen® to learn how to arrange your toothpaste on the end of your brush. Flossing
Break off about 18 inches of floss, wrapping the ends around the middle finger of each hand, as in the illustration. Then, pinching or holding the floss tight with your index fingers, leaving about 1” to 1 ½” between your fingers, work the floss between our teeth, past the contact point where the teeth touch each other. If your teeth are fairly tight you may need to use a slight back and forth sawing motion to get past the contact point. Don’t use so much force that you cause the floss to snap against your gums. This can damage or traumatize the gums. As you floss hold the floss against the side surface of the tooth and not against the gums. Gently work the floss up and down the side of each tooth, especially below the gumline. Holding the floss against the tooth, as you gently go below the gum you will come to a point of resistance. Do not force the floss any further. Move the floss up and down the side of the tooth three or four times, then slide the floss against the other tooth and repeat the motion. You are now finished with this location so move the floss up and out of this set of teeth, gently sawing on the way out if it’s tight, and go to the next set of teeth. Continue flossing between each set of teeth and against each surface until you are finished. Don’t forget to floss against the back side of the last teeth as this is a notorious place for plaque to build up. After you have finished flossing, rinse your mouth thoroughly with water. |
1675 Hill Rd • Boise ID 83702 • 208-342-3695
Patient Information Center
The first step in home dental health habits has to do with the food you eat. To strengthen our teeth from the inside out we need to give our bodies a proper variety of healthy foods that give us a good balance of vitamins and minerals. 
Speaking of bacteria, to better understand the proper way to brush your teeth it’s good to know why you’re doing it. The real culprit in tooth decay and gum disease is bacteria. Bacteria love to hide between teeth, at and under the gum line and in the little folds of the tongue. Bacteria’s job in life is to eat and reproduce. And the more they have to eat, the more they reproduce, creating acids as waste.
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No matter how well you brush your teeth is it still impossible to reach between teeth and under the gumline. The second part of your teeth-cleaning routine includes flossing. Dental floss is basically a special nylon string used to clean between teeth where food gets trapped and bacteria flourish.