Oral hygiene

Dental floss

Dental floss is the most used instrument for interdental hygiene. The ones that contain soluble pyrophosphate are 21% to 37% better at preventing scale when compared to ordinary dental flosses. However, interdental toothbrushes are superior than dental floss in preventing scale.

How good are toothpicks?

It is not bad to remove food remains with a toothpick from time to time, but in the long run toothpicking can cause tooth abrasion and gum withdrawal. The habit of keeping a toothpick in your mouth is harmful for teeth and jaw joints. Be careful that the toothpick tip does not hurt your gums.

Mouthwash solutions

These solutions are suitable for treating parodontopathy, among other other things. They also fight gingivits in an efficient manner. Many studies have shown that mouthwash with regular teeth brushing gives excellent results on teeth health. Besides classic teeth cleaning, patients with teeth diseases should pay special attention to interdental hygiene.

Interdental toothbrushes

The spots that need cleaning the most you cannot reach with an ordinary toothbrush. Only with an appropriate interdental toothbrush, which fills the interdental space, you can remove scale which is formed in the interdental space. Too small interdental brush possibly would not be efficient, too big could damage your teeth. The best thing to do is to ask your dentist about which interdental toothbrush would suit you best. Using intedental toothbrushes is usual with implants, dental bridges or after gum surgeries.

How to use an interdental toothbrush

Slowly push the toothbrush into the interdental space. During this process you must not feel pain, only gentle brushing against your teeth. Move the toothbrush forwards and backwards a few times and then pull it out. Wash it under a stream of hot water and continue cleaning the next interdental space.

Toothbrush history

The oldest known toothbrush is more than a thousand years old. Its other name was “chewing stick” and it supposed chewing on little wooden branches or root. Cleaning was as successful as chewing on a toothpick these days. Even nowadays some natives in Australia or Africa use these “chewing sticks” for teeth cleaning.

The old Chinese, Romans and Greek were very enthusiastic about cleaning their teeth.

Five thousand years ago the Chinese considered that “white worms” are the ones that make their teeth bad. Toothache was treated with massages and pills then. Those pills were usually made from salty rocks and were put in the ear opposite of the tooth that ached.

The old Romans had their own ways of caring about teeth. Pliny the Younger proclaimed that bird feathers cause bad breath when used for tooth cleaning, but thorns from warty pigs are good because they make teeth “strong”.

Greeks were, however, ahead of their time. In the third century BC, Aristotle advised Alexander the Great to clean his teeth every morning with a “thin flax towel that is a little bit rough”. Using flax textile for teeth cleaning was preserved until 1602. when William Vaughan wrote his 15 rules about keeping your health good. One of the rules said that in order to keep your teeth white and healthy you need to clean them after every meal, sleep with your mouth half-open and in the morning clean teeth with a flax towel front and back.

In the fifteenth century Europe tooth picking was a habit until philosophers started talking about good manners. Rhodes said “do not clean your teeth with a knife but use a stick or a clean towel so that you do not insult other people”.

England was the first to offer a modern toothbrush to the world in 1780. The handle was made of a bone and the fibers of swine hair were put into the drilled holes.

Toothbrush quickly spread to the United States so in the 1880. a polished beef bone was considered as an exquisite toothbrush handle and long pig hair were manually inserted into the drilled holes.

In the 20th century the toothbrush got a whole new look. Dr. Robert Hutson, dentist from San Jose, California invented a toothbrush made from nylon endings. He named his invention Oral-B. Neil Armstrong used Oral-B just minutes before he landed on the Moon. Oral-B produced a new toothbrush in 1991. that had blue fiber indicators when the brush needed replacement.

Toothbrush selection

Nowadays it is hard to imagine life without a toothbrush. This little thing became a part of out lives and its purpose is to make our life better. How to know if we are using the right toothbrush, though? Most of us are buying toothbrushes based on the look of the toothbrush. The following article will help in making the right choice.

Toothbrush size

For easier and better understanding we will classify toothbrushes into several categories. Firstly, we will analyze their size. It is important to pick out a toothbrush that enables easy access to all teeth surfaces.

Most grown ups find that the head of the toothbrush measured at 1cm width and 2.5cm of length is easy to use and most efficient. Even though there are bigger heads, they can create problems during molar cleaning. A good toothbrush should have a handle that is long enough so you can comfortably hold it in your hand.

Some experts are of the opinion that a toothbrush head should be small in order to be efficient for cleaning of all areas of the mouth, teeth and gums. Smaller head will make it easier to clean small interdental spaces.

Toothbrush sharpness

When it comes to sharpness, there are three kinds of toothbrushes: soft, medium and hard

Soft toothbrush offers gentle cleaning meant for kids or older persons, people with some kind of prosthetics or gum problems. This type, however, is not efficient for people woth normal teeth but it is perfect for those with dental trauma or gum irritation.

Dentists claim that soft brushes are actually the best brushes. Still, medium and hard brushes are best selling. Medium brush is good for people of all ages. Hairs on this type of toothbrush have certain flexibility and provide efficient cleaning of the whole mouth and teeth.

 Hard toothbrushes are good for big, strong teeth and gums. These brushes are meant for those that require harder cleaning. When you use a hard toothbrush, be extra careful not to exaggerate with brushing because that can lead to teeth or gum damage.

Hand brushes and electric brushes

The next classification divides brushes to hand and electric brushes. Hand brushes are simpler and widely spread. They require certain skills to be used, i.e. to know exactly which part of the mouth and teeth needs cleaning.

It has been proved that more dental deposits can be cleaned with an electric toothbrush. Electric toothbrushes require less skill during usage. Really, all you have to do is to turn it on and it will do its job. However, you have to know for how long the brushing should last. Most people are not aware of the time needed to brush your teeth properly with an electric toothbrush. Some electric toothbrushes have built-in timers that enable them the option of automatic turn-off.

Using interdental toothbrushes

Special toothbrushes for spaces between teeth are used when there are problems with teeth although they are very useful for normal teeth too.

These brushes are often used if the person has damaged gums or had some sort of a gum surgery. They are also used for cleaning dental implants.

Surfaces of these brushes are shaped like little fir trees. Small dimensions are a must in order to reach all interdental spaces.

Interdental toothbrushes are pushed in these interdental spaces so that we can clean all surfaces around teeth.

Natural painkillers

It is not easy to endure toothache. What you can do is prevent it by taking good and regular care of your teeth. But if it so happens that you still get a toothache, you should not ignore it.

Consider yourself lucky if you did not have to go through strong toothaches. Still, you never know what could hit you, so it’s always better to know a little something about how to make the pain go away.

Be ready to make the pain go away in an instant. Even though visiting a dentist is always an option, this time we are going to talk about home made medicine that can offer almost instant relief from the agony of pain.

Dentists give advice about toothache

Do not ignore pain even if it goes away quickly. It can be a sign of a bigger problem that can be treated before it causes any trouble. Sharp pain while chewing can be a sign of a filling gone bad, a crack in the tooth or a cavity. Toothache is stronger at night because blood flow to your head is more intense when you lie down. Raising your head might help easing the pain.

If you are afraid to visit your dentist, talk with him about your fears. This can lessen worrying and studies have shown that more relaxed patients feel less pain.

If you feel any discomfort while receiving dental treatment inform your dentist. In most cases there is something to be done in order to make any discomforts go away.

Take care of your teeth. Brush them regularly, in the right way, use dental floss and visit your dentist regularly. These are the best advices to avoid toothache and preserve teeth in the long run.

Unconventional advices for avoiding toothache

Cow parsnip seed tincture – 5 drops of this tincture can be extremely efficient with certain types of toothache, if the pain is tooth surface related.

Codeine, oxycodone and hydrocodone are the best when relieving wisdom tooth pain. Most pharmaceutic companies mix analgetics with narcotics and these drugs can usually be bought without prescriptions.

Ice offers a certain sense of numbness. Hold ice bags over the pain affected area and try to push it against it as much as possible. In most cases, this can help decrease the pain because ice is great at influencing nerve endings.

Buy a few cucumbers and cut them into thick rings. Hold the rings on and around the tooth in question and you will start to feel relief.

Put a small bundle of peppermint around the tooth that is aching and hold it for around 15 minutes and then spit it out. Repeat this ten to fifteen times per day. Peppermint has two effects – it brings abscess out and its sharpness calms the tooth.

One of the most effective homemade medicine for toothache is garlic. Put a solted garlic clove on the tooth that is bothering you. The pain will be gone and sometimes it can even cure underlying causes. Also, chewing a clove of garlic in the morning is recommended. It will make your teeth strong and healthy.

In most cases toothache starts at night when there is little you can do except take some sort of a pill to ease the pain until morning. So, do not panic. Search the kitchen for some of the above things that can ease your pain very quickly.

Why clean your tongue?

Did you know?

  • Bacteries in your mouth can cause deposits that in turn cause cavities, gum problems and bad breath.
  • Cleaning your teeth with toothbrushes and dental floss removes only apart of these bacteries.
  • Bacteries inhabit the surface of the tongue.
  • Tongue bacteries are the main cause of bad breath.
  • The more bacteries there are in your mouth, the bigger chance of bad breath and oral health problems.

What can you do?

As an addition to your oral health care, clean you tongue for 10 seconds twice a day. This will help in decreasing bacteries in your mouth. Cleaning is simple: use a tongue cleaner to gently sweep your tongue with strokes from back to front. Wash your mouth with fresh water afterwards.

Warning:

Large tongue deposits can be a sign of bad digestion or some kind of a disease. In such cases seek the advice of your doctor.