Basic dental hygiene is an essential part of your oral health. From daily brushing to consistent dental cleanings and exams, your dental hygiene should be diligent and regular.
Why is dental hygiene important?
Dental hygiene is the first stepping stone to overall dental care. Brushing, flossing, and regular cleanings and exams are all part of your dental hygiene. Proper dental and oral hygiene helps prevent cavities, gingivitis, tooth decay, periodontal disease, plaque and tartar build-up, and bad breath.
What do I need to do to have good dental hygiene?
Daily brushing and flossing are integral to your overall oral hygiene. Diligent brushing removes plaque from the teeth, ensuring that bacteria does not damage your teeth. Be gentle and consistent when brushing your teeth. While brushing is necessary, it only reaches the surfaces of your teeth.
Flossing, on the other hand, uses a thin cord to reach the spaces between your teeth, which rids your teeth of leftover food and plaque. Flossing is important because if these items are not removed from between your teeth, they can cause tooth decay, which can result in a cavity. If the cavity is not addressed, the decay will continue to grow, causing more widespread damage.
Even if you have impeccable dental hygiene habits, there will be some build-up on your teeth that you cannot remove through brushing and flossing alone. Only a professional dental cleaning can remove long term build-up from your teeth. This is important to your overall dental health, and should occur often. Additionally, a visit to our dental office every six months will allow us to check for any potential issues or problems and create a plan to treat them as soon as possible.
What are the featured preventive services provided by Haid Dental?
These include our fluoride treatments and our oral cancer screenings. Fluoride is a mineral that strengthens your teeth and protects them from decay. The enamel layer protecting your teeth is attacked by bacteria, acids, and sugars that come into contact with your teeth throughout the day. This is where fluoride assists.
Fluoride works to remineralize this tooth enamel, which helps prevent tooth decay and cavities. Additionally, fluoride can strengthen the teeth as they grow and develop, which makes fluoride an important part of any pediatric dental care. Professional fluoride treatments are quick, easy, and painless. Our dentist will let you know if she thinks a flouride treatment could be right for you.
Many patients associate fluoride treatments with children's dentistry, but adults can also benefit from this preventative protection. Fluoride is a staple of family dentistry because it promotes strong teeth and can extend the life of your teeth, preventing painful or costly procedures such as root canals or extractions.
We are dedicated to doing everything imaginable to detect and treat oral cancers and other abnormalities at the earliest possible stage. During your normal cleaning and exam, our dentist will check your mouth and throat for signs of oral cancer. Oral cancer is an umbrella term that includes cancers of the lips, tongue, floor of the mouth, cheeks, throat, sinuses, and the hard and soft palate. While treatments for early stage oral cancer are often successful, many cases of oral cancer aren’t detected until they have progressed into a more serious, advanced stage. This being said, regular visits to your dentist are of the utmost importance when it comes to oral cancer detection. Cleanings and exams should occur every six months, which will allow our team to regularly monitor the tissues of your mouth for abnormalities. This simple step can help us detect slight abnormalities before they progress into larger problems. Preventive dentistry is essential to your overall health.
