10 top tips to keep your smile squeaky clean!
- Brush for 2X2. 2 minutes, twice per day! Brush up to the gum line using circular motions rather than up and down.
- Use a fluoride a toothpaste with at least 1000 fluoride ppm.
- Toothpaste quantities appropriate for different ages;
Age 0-2 Smear Age 2-5 Pea size Age 5+ Regular amount
- Don’t Rinse! Leaving fluoride toothpaste on the teeth after brushing rather than rinsing away with water helps to penetrate the teeth and encouraging enamel to re-mineralise and prevent tooth decay.
- Use floss or interdental brushes to clean in between teeth. While flossing try not to “saw” backwards and forwards, rather making a ‘C’ shape around each tooth and pulling the floss through. If it gets stuck let go of one side and pull through.
- Eat breakfast AFTER brushing your teeth in the morning. Plaque contains bacteria and is incredibly sticky. Eating before brushing encourages the bacteria to cling to the sugars in food, putting you at further risk of tooth decay.
- Keep sugary snacks to meal times. Each time you eat something containing sugar it disrupts the PH in your mouth which makes it spike. This can take up to 2 hours to return to normal. If you continue to snack on sugary snacks, the mouth never gets chance to return back down to normal. Better to eat a bag of sweets in one go than to have one sweet every few minutes.
- Children that use teeth soothers and dummies should discouraged after tooth eruption to prevent malocclusion. Sucking of thumbs else should be discouraged as this puts pressure on the front teeth causing problems as the child grows.
- Children from 6 months should drink out of a regular cup rather than a sippy cup or bottle to prevent malocclusion and bottle decay.
- Drink milk or water in between meals, keep juices to mealtimes as although fresh juice is great for general health it still contains sugar and is acidic which can cause tooth wear.
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