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3 Bad Dental Health Habits You Need To Break
We’ve put together the top 3 bad dental habits you need to break. Getting into bad dental habits can really impact on your oral health as well as your wallet as you find yourself needing all sorts of dental treatment to correct that your habits may have caused. Here’s 3 of the most common habits that you really need to stop doing if you want healthy teeth that are going to last longer.
- Not flossing – As a Southend dentist we hear all sorts of excuses as to why patients don’t floss but the bottom line is that flossing is one of them most important dental health habits which everyone should be practising. Regular brushing does a good job of removing plaque from around two thirds of the surface of your teeth, leaving a third which can’t be reached by your toothbrush. Loose particles of food can get trapped between teeth and in difficult to reach area and this acts like a magnet to bacteria and plaque. By flossing at least once a day you can remove these loose particles of food and bacteria which sits just below the gum line avoiding gingivitis, cavities, and possible tooth loss.
- Smoking – Smoking is one sure fire way of increasing your chances of developing a life threatening illness but on the positive side whether you’ve been smoking for 15 years or a couple of months, stopping smoking can quickly lower your risk of developing lung cancer, oral cancer, emphysema, heart disease and painful lesions in the mouth that are slow to heal.
If you want more reasons, then the threat of a missing tooth might stop you in your tracks when you come to buy your next packet. Or how about cosmetic reasons such as yellowish teeth, bad breath, reduced sense of taste and smell, and a receding gum line. The use of tobacco is a major cause of tooth loss in adults. Smoking can also mean that you’re turned down for dental implants in Southend should you come to need them.
- Teeth grinding – Grinding occurs when the teeth are slid back and forth over each other and often occurs at night, with the tooth grinder unaware that they’re even doing it. It can become a serious problem which can lead to worn, fractured and broken teeth as a result. No-one knows the exact reason for teeth grinding but it is thought to be related to anxiety and stress.
One solution can be to learn to manage stress and the other can be to wear a night guard, which your Southend dentist can have custom made and which prevents teeth on teeth grinding and keeps the mouth open slightly. This puts less pressure on the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) which acts as a hinge between the jaw and the skill, placing it in a more relaxing position.
If you’re struggling to quit smoking, then at Together Dental Southend we can help by giving you information and support and seeing you for regular dental check-ups. Even by cutting down smoking you’ll soon see an improvement in your oral health. We can also show you how to floss properly and help with tooth grinding. Why not get in touch with us today and book an initial consultation to see just how we can help you. Call us on 01702 465000.