Oral Health Improvements For The New Year

Oral Health Improvements For The New Year

Take the opportunity to ‘reset’ the health of your teeth and gums!

We are now well into 2025 and most of us will probably have already forgotten about our short festive breaks and will have returned to work, or at least, to a regular  routine. If you are one of the many who are pleased to get things ‘back to normal’, you will no doubt be happy about this. We almost all feel most comfortable when we are in our own routines and this can be a good thing where it enables us to get things done.

Routines can also be negative, especially when things have become routine because of laziness or even fear of making changes. When it comes to looking after our teeth and gums, routine can be a good and bad thing.

If we routinely brush and floss our teeth on a daily basis, this is of course, a good thing, but if we also routinely just give them a quick brushing, then this is not so good. The likely result will be the need for dental treatment provided by one of our experienced Canterbury dentists.

In our first blog of 2025, we are going to take a look at some things which should be routine if you want to have a healthy mouth. We will also look more closely at ways in which you can make improvements.

Brushing your teeth correctly

The most obvious thing that you can do to improve how you clean your teeth is to take a closer look at how you do this. While most of us do brush our teeth twice a day, it can become routine or habitual and a closer examination is likely to show that you are not doing this as well as you could do. The first thing to check is the bristles on your toothbrush. How old are they? Do they look worn? The likelihood is that most of us are using brushes that are long past their best. Worn and damaged bristles will not remove food and bacteria efficiently. You should replace your brush, or head if electric, every 90 days or so. If you haven’t changed yours recently, this should be your first step.

The next thing should be to make sure that you are not only brushing your teeth but gently around the gumline too. This is important as this is where a lot of bacteria and food particles can collect. Not only does this increase the risk of tooth decay, but of gum disease too.

Finally, the advice is to brush your teeth for two full minutes each time you brush, both morning and night. You probably think that you do this but the likelihood is that you don’t. Set a timer for a month or so and see how far you are falling short. We suspect you might be surprised!

Use dental floss

In addition to brushing, we should all be using dental floss on a daily basis. The most common reason for not doing this that we hear at Bradley and Partners Dental & Implant Clinic is that it is ‘difficult to do’. This isn’t really the case though, and with a bit of practice, most people find that they can do this quite easily. Flossing between your teeth is an excellent way of helping to avoid gum disease symptoms and we encourage you all to persevere with it. If you still find it difficult after practising a while, or if you have mobility issues that make this especially difficult, please do talk to our local hygienist who may be able to offer alternative methods. Generally speaking though, flossing is both very effective and cheap as well.

See your dentist and hygienist regularly

One routine that you should definitely have is to see both one of our dentists and also the dental hygienist regularly. Skipping these appointments can lead to the need for more extensive treatments. At our Canterbury clinic, we believe in preventative dentistry, and ensuring that you have appointments booked with both dentist and hygienist plays a key part in this. If you are not sure if you have appointments booked with us, please do give us a call to check.

Dietary and other habits

What we eat and drink plays a big part in how healthy our mouth is and most people know by now that sugar is bad for our teeth. Despite this, few of us manage to reduce this to a level where it has less impact so this could be an important new year resolution for you. We are not asking you to cut sugar out of your diet altogether but do try to cut down as much as you can. This will be better for your general health as well.

One area that you should definitely do this is in what you drink. Far too many people, and especially younger ones, drink far too many soft drinks that are not only high in sugar but tooth enamel attacking acids too. The best thing to quench your thirst is water and not only does this avoid the sugars, but also helps to flush bacteria and small food particles away as well as helping you to maintain a good level of hydration.

Finally, if you still smoke, you should quit. Smoking is a major risk factor for poor oral and general health. The most common problem associated with this is gum disease and, in particular, periodontitis. As readers of our blog will know, this may well lead to wobbly teeth or even tooth loss. Smoking is also the most likely factor in potentially fatal oral cancers.

We hope that your new year has started well and we also hope that our first blog of the year has given you some food for thought. Most of the above suggestions are very easy to carry out but could make big improvements to your oral health, so why not give them a try?

If you would like any further advice on any of the above or would like to make an appointment to see the dentist or hygienist at Bradley and Partners Dental & Implant Clinic, please give us a call today on 01227 463529.