We have advanced to a point in dentistry where many of the common issues like cavities, wear, inflammation, cracked teeth, and missing teeth can all be treated predictably with long lasting results. On top of that, the treatments can be delivered in a comfortable environment with little to no pain or sensitivity during treatment. That’s great, but do you know what’s even better? Minimizing the amount of dental treatments throughout your lifetime through great home care and regular professional preventative care at least every 6 months.
Let’s start with the basics. Here is a checklist of some of the most basic items you’ll need, in the order you’d use them, to achieve an optimal home care routine:
- Mouthwash
- Floss
- An electric toothbrush
- Toothpaste with fluoride
- Interdental cleaners (optional)
- Fluoride Rinse (optional)
The goal of our home care routine is to remove any residues (plaque or foods) from our teeth after each of our meals (2-3x per day). Plaque is the fundamental cause for most dental issues, and must be removed from all the surfaces of your teeth. What is plaque? It’s essentially a colony of bacteria that initially forms as a film on our teeth, and grows into a “sludge”. Once that “sludge” dries or hardens on the tooth, we call it calculus or tartar. Think of calculus like a barnacle stuck to the tooth… I know none of this sounds pleasant, but it’s the reality and is important for you to understand if your goals are to keep your teeth for a lifetime.
Plaque can be the root cause of many issues which are all related to each other. It can cause inflammation, our body’s response to foreign invaders. Long term inflammation can be a direct cause of bone loss and recession, two common problems most patients face. Plaque is also the root cause of cavities. The bacteria in plaque digest any foods in our diet and secrete an acid as a byproduct. The acid causes demineralization and weakening of the crystals that make up enamel and dentin, eventually causing it to cavitate. I’m happy to share the seemingly unlimited reasons why plaque is bad for you, but I’d like to focus on your home care routine instead and how to get rid of it.
I should begin by stating that I have no ties to any of these companies or products. I have utilized many products throughout my career as a dentist and have found these items to be the most helpful for my patients.
The Routine
1. Mouthwash – Listerine Cool Mint Zero Alcohol & ACT Fluoride Rinse
- ~1 tablespoon
- 30 seconds swish and spit
- Softens plaque and calculus for easier removal
- Begins to kill bacteria
- Listerine – The only mouthwash with the ADA seal of acceptance
- ACT – We recommend using a fluoride rinse once a day, at night, and it should be the last thing that goes in your mouth before laying down for bed. Drinking or swishing with water afterward will rinse the fluoride away. In order to ensure that you are experiencing the highest possible benefit of a fluoride rinse, it’s best to allow the solution to settle onto your teeth and gums without flushing it from your mouth by rinsing afterwards.
2. Floss – Glide Pro Health
- Glide is thin like teflon tape, and allows you to easily slide the floss between tight contact points and effectively “scrub” the surfaces between your teeth where your toothbrush is not reaching.
- Floss in a C-shape to allow the floss to slide across as much of the tooth’s surface as possible.
- Once the floss “snaps” between your contact points, rub the floss against the tooth behind and then the tooth in front before pulling it back through the contact point.
- I recommend flossing before brushing as it will begin to loosen any plaque of foods stuck between your teeth, which can be removed with your brush or other interdental instruments later.
3. Toothbrush – Oral-B
- Oral-B FlossAction Brush Head
- 2 minutes total – 30 seconds per quadrant
- Brush all surfaces of the tooth, including your gum tissues to remove plaque on the surface and at the gum line.
- Oral-B and Sonicare toothbrushes have a timer (30 seconds per quadrant), a pressure sensor (will slow down speed if you press to hard), and some settings to alter the speeds.
- After brushing, rinse mouth by swishing with water and spitting.
4. Toothpaste – Crest Pro Health & Sensodyne Rapid Relief
- Fluoride – Toothpaste serves as a way of introducing fluoride to our mouth several times each day. Check out the active ingredients on YOUR toothpaste. It most likely contains just stannous fluoride as a varying concentration. Amazingly the toothpaste isle is filled with products that all contain the same single active ingredient.
- Potassium Nitrate – An active ingredient in Sensodyne is one of the other few beneficial active ingredients in toothpaste. Sensodyne helps relieve sensitivity by adding a layer of protection to a tooth’s root surface that is allowing the nerve to be hyper-stimulated.
- Use a pea sized amount on your toothbrush to help remove plaque, re-mineralize damaged tooth structure, and slow plaque from reforming.
- Whitening tooth pastes often have abrasive additives, which I recommend avoiding. There are much better and less harmful ways to whiten your teeth.
5. Interdental Cleaners (optional) – WaterPik & Proxy Brushes
- For people with irregular tooth surfaces, large spaces between teeth, or difficult to reach spaces, we recommend the use of a WaterPik or ProxaBrush to help clean the surfaces of your teeth where flossing and brushing was ineffective.
- Start with the WaterPik tip in the space between your teeth, turn the unit on, and begin the move the tip in a sweeping motion until all spaces between the teeth have been rinsed.
6. Fluoride (optional) – Prevident 5000 & ACT Fluoride Rinse
- ACT – We recommend using a fluoride rinse once a day, at night, and it should be the last thing that goes in your mouth before laying down for bed. Drinking or swishing with water afterward will dilute and rinse the fluoride away.
- Prevident 5000 – A prescription strength fluoridated toothpaste. Use a pea sized amount on toothbrush and brush as normal. After brushing, you should spit excess Prevident and DO NOT rinse for the same reasons as ACT. We want the fluoride in the Prevident to have the maximum contact time before being diluted by natural saliva flow or any other fluids.
Everyone’s mouth is unique so it’s best to consult with your dentist for personalized recommendations based on your specific oral health needs. Are you ready to elevate your smile to the next level? Discover the differences with Slate Dental’s comprehensive approach to dentistry! From personalized exams to customized treatment plans, we’re committed to your unique smile journey. Join us in embracing the big picture of oral health!