This November (National Diabetes Month), we are looking at how diabetes impacts your oral health. It’s essential to recognize the interconnectedness of your overall health with your dental health in general and explore how making healthy choices can significantly benefit both areas of your health and well-being.

The Diabetes-Oral Health Connection

Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects how your body processes sugar (glucose). High blood sugar levels can lead to various health complications, including issues with your mouth. Here are a few key connections between diabetes and your oral well-being:

• Gum Disease (Periodontitis): People with diabetes are at an increased risk of developing gum disease. This condition, also known as periodontitis, can cause inflammation and damage to the soft and hard tissues supporting your teeth. It can lead to gum recession, tooth loss and even chronic bad breath (halitosis).
• Dental Cavities: Diabetes can affect the flow of saliva in your mouth, which is essential for maintaining good oral health. Reduced saliva production can lead to a dry mouth, making it more prone to dental cavities and infections.
• Delayed Healing: Diabetes can slow down the body’s natural ability to heal itself. This means that if you have oral surgery, tooth extractions, or other dental procedures, you may take longer to recover and may also be at a higher risk of complications.
• Thrush: Thrush, a fungal infection in the mouth, is more common in people with diabetes. High sugar levels in the mouth provide an ideal environment for the fungus to thrive.

Healthy Choices for Both Diabetes and Oral Health

The good news is that many lifestyle choices that help manage diabetes also promote better oral health. Here are some ways to make healthy choices that benefit both:

• Control Blood Sugar Levels: Properly managing elevated blood sugar is the cornerstone of diabetes care. By doing so, you reduce your risk of developing oral health issues. Regular monitoring, medication management and lifestyle adjustments are key.
• Stick to a Balanced Diet: A nutrient-rich diet comprised of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains benefits both diabetes management and your oral health. Avoid excessive sugar and limit starchy foods that can contribute to dental problems.
• Daily Oral Hygiene: Brush your teeth at least twice a day and floss daily. This simple system helps remove plaque and prevent gum disease from invading your smile. Be sure to use a toothbrush with soft bristles, as aggressive brushing can harm your gums.
• Regular Dental Checkups: Consistent dental checkups are crucial. Our dentist can monitor your oral health, spot issues early, and offer guidance on proper oral care.
• Quit Smoking: Just as smoking is harmful to your oral health, it can also exacerbate the complications of diabetes. If you currently smoke, seek support to help you quit.
• Stay Hydrated: Drinking lots of water throughout your day helps combat dry mouth, reducing your risk of dental cavities from tooth decay.
• Manage Stress Levels: Stress can seriously affect blood sugar levels and your oral health. Look for healthy ways to manage your stress levels by incorporating exercise, mindfulness, or hobbies you enjoy during your week.

Book Your Reservation

National Diabetes Month is a reminder of the importance of taking good care of your body. Making healthy choices benefits both diabetes and your oral health, boosting your quality of life overall. This November, prioritize your oral health for a brighter and healthier future. If it is time for you to see our dentist for a checkup and cleaning, we invite you to give us a call to book a reservation. Your smile and body will thank you!

March is a busy month in the dental community. With National Dentist’s Day on March 6 and Dental Assistants Recognition Week from March 5th to March 11th, we would like to give a huge shoutout to our team and thank them for all their hard work every day! Our dental family loves helping your family’s smiles thrive, and it gives us great joy to be part of your ongoing dental experience.

National Dentist’s Day

Dentists provide the expertise needed to prevent, diagnose and treat oral diseases. They observe the growth of your teeth and jaws and perform surgical treatments like tooth extractions and root canals to keep your mouth and body as healthy as possible. This also means you can smile with confidence!

Dental Assistants Recognition Week

Just like dentists, our dental assistants also keep your smile and body healthier. Recognized by the American Dental Assistants Association, dental assistants are considered multi-talented members of any dental team for providing essential supportive dental care:

• Comforting and listening to our patients
• Providing an extra set of eyes, ears and hands where needed
• Keeping everything running smoothly
• Supporting the rest of our dental team
• Performing infection control tasks

Our dental team depends on the work of our dentist and assistants so you get the high-quality dental care you and your family need.

National Nutrition Month

March is also National Nutrition Month, and eating better helps you create and maintain healthy teeth and gums for a healthier mouth and body. Did you know calcium, some fatty acids, vitamins C and D, and proteins can help your jaw and teeth function better? Protein fixes tissue and builds bone so you have a healthier bone density. Getting enough protein by eating healthy, whole foods with vital nutrients for optimal oral health can help keep your smile strong.

Build Better Oral Health With Your Food

Eating foods that are good for your teeth are also typically good for your whole body. Think calcium-rich low-fat cheese, fat-free or low-fat milk, plain yogurt, and leafy greens. High-protein foods like eggs, fish, meat and poultry actually protect tooth enamel while boosting bone density. Then there are high water content and fibrous foods like fruits and vegetables that increase saliva production, which effectively rinses away food particles, neutralizes acids and prevents tooth decay.

Fun Fact: Tooth Enamel is one of the strongest and hardest materials in your body! But it can also be weakened, eroded, or destroyed by oral acids and sugars from the foods and beverages you consume. Anything you can do to protect tooth enamel with the foods and drinks you ingest can make a huge difference in your health.

Food and Beverage Tips:

• Drink green or black teas to neutralize bad oral bacteria.
• Chew sugar-free gum to boost saliva levels.
• Eat high-fiber fruits and veggies.
• Protect enamel with tooth-strengthening foods or drinks (grapes, apples, strawberries, bananas, peaches, watermelon, cherries, spinach, potatoes, shrimp, crab legs, black tea and coffee).
• Consume vitamin C and other antioxidants (grapefruit, oranges, strawberries, cranberries, kiwis and apples).
• Eggs, lean meat, nuts, beans, green leafy vegetables, carrots and fish are all good choices as well.

Tend to Your Smile

We hope you enjoy March by focusing on your oral health goals. No matter the dental care (whether you need a routine dental cleaning and exam, better oral hygiene care tips, or cosmetic or dental restoration), our dentist, dental assistants, and our staff are here for you and ready to support your smile! Give us a call today!

February isn’t just the month when we celebrate all things love; it’s also Gum Disease Awareness Month. Why not show your gums some love? Because your gum health is vital for a healthy smile (and body). Gum disease is linked to Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, coronary artery disease, diabetes, liver cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

Our goal this month is to promote good gum health and help you feel more motivated to take the best care possible of your gums. Did you know that harmful oral bacteria and germs can attack the supportive bone, leading to tooth loss? Your gums provide a barrier preventing harmful elements from getting through and attacking your teeth. Without healthy gums, you can actually lose your pearly whites!

Gum Disease Progression

Stage One: Gum Disease

Gum disease, when it invades your mouth, starts with a milder form (gingivitis), which crops up when bad bacteria make their way under the gums, leading to irritation. At this stage, you’ll often notice bleeding, irritated and swollen gums. Timely intervention can often reverse gum disease by taking good daily care of your treated gums as recommended by our dentist. If you ignore your gums at this early stage, they will continue to deteriorate.

Stage Two: Early Periodontitis

The beginnings of bone loss anchoring your teeth start to happen, even though you might not notice serious symptoms. The good news is this gum deterioration can be detected during your regular dental checkups, which is one of the main reasons why these visits are so important to keeping healthy teeth and gums.

Stage Three: Moderate Periodontitis

If periodontitis is left untreated, essential jaw bone and gum tissue are continually whittled away until you feel that your teeth are beginning to feel loose. Dental intervention needs to happen to manage the disease.

Stage Four: Advanced Periodontitis

This is the most severe stage of gum disease. You may notice your teeth feeling even looser, interfering with proper biting and chewing and making eating painful. Not only have the bad bacteria lingering below the gums spread into the soft tissues and jawbone material, but now they have traveled throughout your body via the bloodstream. It wears down your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to the illnesses we mentioned above.

Proactive Gum Care

Now that you are aware of the problems caused by gum disease, show your smile some love to ensure your smile looks, feels, and functions as healthy as possible!

• Brush your pearly whites at least twice a day for two minutes each session. Go the extra mile if you can by investing in an electric toothbrush that does a thorough job of removing dental plaque. Use soft bristles that are gentle on your gum tissue and around the gumline, and brush small circles on the front, back and crevices.
• Floss between teeth to get rid of food particles and bacteria between teeth under the gum line to prevent plaque and tartar buildup. It’s vital that you swipe the floss up and around the gum line of every tooth to catch any oral debris left behind after brushing.
• Schedule routine dental visits. Along with consistent daily oral hygiene maintenance, routine dental cleanings and exams are your main defense against gum disease. Deep cleanings maintain tooth and gum health and spot developing problems early.

This Gum Disease Awareness Month, why not show your smile the love it deserves for healthy teeth and gums? Now is a good time to schedule your next dental cleaning and exam. Our dedicated dental team loves helping patients get healthy, beautiful smiles!

January 1st is the beginning of healthy resolutions for many people. And while ringing in the new year with alcohol is often traditional, it’s also no surprise that it is commonly referred to as National Hangover Day after all those New Year’s Eve toasts. While alcohol consumption can make an occasion more festive and enjoyable, much like sugar, it should also be limited.

New Year’s Resolutions

For a healthy body and smile, we recommend the following New Year’s goals to promote better health overall.

• Freely indulge in all the fruits and vegetables your heart desires. These will boost your immune system and help protect you from poor oral health like periodontal (gum) disease.
• Make this the year you quit using tobacco. Did you know that smokers are nearly twice as likely to lose their pearly whites as those who don’t smoke? This resolution can boost your oral health immeasurably!
• Brush (at least) twice daily and floss once per day. While your toothbrush cleans the teeth, flossing will reach between the teeth and under the gumline, ensuring that all tooth surfaces receive the care they need to prevent plaque buildup.
• Visit your dental team routinely as recommended by your dentist. Coming in at least twice a year allows our team to spot developing dental issues before they advance.

Why Alcohol Is Bad for Teeth

Did you know that sugar is the primary food for the harmful bacteria in your mouth? Quickly turning into dental plaque, this multiplying oral bacteria film infects your gums and releases enamel-eroding acid that causes gum disease and tooth decay. Since alcohol is often mixed with sodas and energy drinks high in sugar and acids, it can seriously hurt your teeth and gums. While drinking occasionally (just like eating sweets on occasion) won’t damage teeth if you clean well afterward, drinking too much definitely can, as it attacks tooth enamel. And while normal healthy saliva levels will neutralize oral acid, it can’t do that if you are downing multiple drinks after another and exposing your pearly whites to corrosive acid attacks.

Of course, most kinds of alcohol are highly acidic on their own, making them harmful to your enamel and even more so if you forget to brush your teeth before bed after indulging in a night of drinking. Speaking of saliva, alcohol actively dehydrates your mouth and body, diminishing saliva levels, which means insufficient saliva in your mouth. Low levels of saliva leave you vulnerable to tooth sensitivity, increased risk of decay and even oral infection.

How Alcohol Impacts Your Gums

If you consume alcohol frequently, you are exposing yourself to a greater risk of experiencing gum disease. You will also experience more dental plaque that builds up around your gums so they become irritated and diseased. And that’s not all. If you are already battling gum disease, frequent drinking can actually worsen your condition as it prevents your gum tissue from healing properly.

You’ll also be at greater risk of cancer if you are a chronic drinker. In fact, chronic drinking is the second biggest risk factor for oral cancer! Chronic alcohol consumption leads to oral cancer of the lips, cheeks, tongue, and sinuses. While cancer spotted in the early stages can often be successfully treated and pushed into remission, but once it has progressed, it is often life-threatening. The good news is routine dental checkups permit our dentist to perform an oral cancer screening that allows us to spot this insidious disease in its early stages.

Healthy Resolutions

When it comes to your oral and general health, taking good care of yourself can make all the difference to your quality of life. As this new year starts, limiting your alcohol intake to special occasions makes good sense. We applaud your efforts to be mindful of alcohol consumption to protect your smile. Give us a call to schedule your next dental visit!

This holiday season, why not celebrate healthy smiles for yourself and your loved ones? Flashing a healthy smile can bring joy to loved ones and strangers alike, boost your self-confidence, and brighten your mood, as well as those you share your smile with. Our wish this holiday season is to help you experience the joys of a healthy, appealing smile.

Keeping your mouth safe means practicing good daily oral hygiene: brushing and flossing without skipping a day, no matter how busy you are or whether you are traveling and celebrating with loved ones. Giving the gift of a healthy smile also has long-lasting, life-altering benefits. Check out these tips for celebrating the holidays in tooth-protecting style!

Drinks on the Naughty List

– Drinks with pigments from dark-colored drinks damage and stain teeth (think coffee, tea and red wine). Red wine has enamel-damaging acid and staining tannins. But white wine has even more acid than red wine, causing enamel erosion and leading to tooth discoloration and staining.

– Hot chocolate contains chromogens, pigment-producing substances that stick to enamel and stain it and is often loaded with sugar and marshmallows that lead to tooth decay and cavities.

– Soda is sugar-laden and highly acidic and holiday punch is hazardous to teeth as they are often made from highly pigmented berries like cherries, pomegranates, blackberries or blueberries with tooth-staining chromogens, as well as sugar and soda. Limit your teeth’s exposure to these beverages and drink plenty of water to keep your mouth hydrated for healthy, cavity-fighting saliva levels.

Foods on the Naughty List

Part of festive holiday traditions includes treats like candy canes, cookies, cakes and pies that are bad for your teeth, not just your waistline. Avoid sticky treats like caramel corn and toffee, as oral bacteria can feed off their sticky residue, creating damaging acids that wear down tooth enamel. All hard candies, including candy canes, peppermints and peppermint sticks, are filled with sugar, and biting into them can crack a filling or weak tooth. Toffee and peanut brittle are both hard and chewy, which can end up chipping a tooth or dislodging a filling. Even candied nuts are risky to your teeth.

Foods on the Nice List

– Serve all the turkey and ham you and your family love. Both have healthy protein, and while turkey has phosphorus, ham has potassium that allows your pearly whites to utilize calcium more efficiently.

– Cheeses like Monterey Jack, cheddar, Brie, Camembert, Roquefort and Gorgonzola are loaded with calcium and protein, and they neutralize acidity in your mouth to protect against cavities.

– Soft nuts like cashews, walnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts, pecans, pine nuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts and Brazil nuts are high in calcium and protein and low in sugar.

– Create a colorful raw vegetable platter loaded with vibrant crunchy carrots, celery, radishes, broccoli, bell peppers and jicama or salads made with leafy greens like kale, spinach, chard or collard greens to nurture teeth and gums.

– Fruit platters: ‘Tis the season for fresh, colorful fruit like apples, pears, grapes and kiwis that do not stick to teeth.

Gifts and Stocking Stuffers on the Nice List

You can further protect your loved one’s teeth by giving gifts that keep teeth healthy and strong! Some tooth friendly gift-giving ideas include:

– Sugar-free chocolates and sugar-free gum that tempt the taste buds.

– Floss picks to help that person who needs to floss more.

– Electric toothbrush with cartoon characters or fun colors for kids or tasteful aesthetics for teens and adults.

– Take-home teeth whitening kit for teens and adults.

– Mouth guard for the athletic child, teen or adult in your life.

– Fun toothbrush case for traveling or sleepover-loving kids.

– Cute toothpaste dispenser that is animal-shaped for kids.

– Toys and books for kids or gag gifts and books for grownups.

– Gift certificate for orthodontic treatment.

The Gift of a Healthy Smile

This holiday season, why not give gifts that promote a healthy, beautiful smile all year round? Whether it is a state-of-the-art toothbrush or oral irrigator that will make them look forward to brushing and flossing every day, whitening toothpaste or a gift certificate for our in-house teeth whitening treatment, all these presents are sure to create healthier, beautiful smiles!

November isn’t just Thanksgiving: It’s also National Diabetes Month. This disease affects around 37 million Americans, including adults and young people. Oral health is closely linked to health issues, including diabetes, and vice versa. Along with your primary care doctor and other specialists, your health care team should also include your dentist!

People with diabetes are more prone to cavities and infections of the gums and bones which keep your teeth in place, as diabetes lowers the blood supply to those areas. If you are a diabetic over age 50, your risk will be even greater, mainly because aging alone increases dental problems if you are not taking good care of your smile. If you notice sore or bleeding gums, constantly get infections and have chronic bad breath, you may have diabetes and dental issues that need treatment.

Common Oral Conditions in Diabetics

• Dry Mouth: Age isn’t the only factor that causes dry mouth: Diabetes does too. Women in particular are vulnerable to lower saliva levels, which lead to dry mouth (or xerostomia). Healthy saliva levels secrete enzymes that attack harmful oral bacteria.

• Gingivitis: This early stage of gum disease arises as oral bacteria make your gums bleed, redden and feel sore. This bacteria thrives on sugar, creating oral acids that damage your teeth. If you have unmanaged diabetes, your saliva will contain more sugar that will mix with saliva and bits of stray food particles, turning into plaque.

• Periodontitis: If you leave gingivitis unchecked, it will eventually worsen, ending up as periodontitis, a severe version of gum disease wearing down bone density and oral tissues that hold your teeth in place. Unless you brush and floss diligently, gum pockets will form, a condition where your gums pull away from your teeth. Unlike gingivitis, periodontitis cannot be reversed, only managed.

• Oral infections: Fungal yeast infections, referred to as “thrush”, often shows up as white or red patches in the mouth for people with diabetes. Yeast feeds off of excess sugar in your saliva and shows up more in people who wear loose-fitting dentures and smoke.

• Wounds taking longer to heal: This is common in people as they age, as well as in diabetics. It also increases your risk of infection. This is bad news if you have gum or tooth issues, as healing takes longer.

Protecting Teeth and Gums in Diabetics

Understanding the link between oral health and diabetes will hopefully help you work to prevent problems from developing to begin with. As with most things, an ounce of prevention is so much easier than a pound of cure!

Tips To Keep Your Mouth Healthier

• Manage your blood sugar as recommended by your doctor with diet and exercise.
• Practice good daily oral hygiene care, which includes using a soft-bristled toothbrush, flossing twice a day and rinsing with an antibacterial mouthwash.
• Protect the enamel on your teeth by waiting half an hour before brushing to dilute oral acids.
• Remove and clean your dentures every night; no sleeping in them!
• If you still smoke, now is the time to stop.
• Come in for regular professional dental cleanings every six months or as recommended.

Healthy Body, Healthy Mouth

The good news is diabetes-friendly foods are also tooth-friendly, so it’s a win-win. Feel free to consume the following dietary choices. Your doctor and dentist will likely approve!

• Avocados
• Almonds
• Beans and other legumes
• Berries
• Broccoli
• Cabbage and Brussels sprouts
• Cottage cheese
• Eggs
• Fish
• Kiwis
• Nonfat yogurt
• Non-starchy vegetables
• Nuts
• Oatmeal
• Shrimp
• Spinach
• Wild salmon

This Thanksgiving, we hope to give you something extra to be thankful for with these timely tips. If you have diabetes, we hope this helps you maintain better oral health as simply and effectively as possible. We welcome you to give us a call today if you would like to schedule your next dental visit or speak with our dental team!

A healthy, appealing smile starts with a clean mouth. October is National Dental Hygiene Month, where we honor our hard-working, dedicated dental hygienists and the care they provide to protect your smile! Their goal is simple: helping you achieve greater oral health by helping you keep away cavities and gum disease.

A Dental Hygienist’s Typical Day

A typical day in the life of a dental hygienist may involve any of the following:

Perform dental cleanings: When you come in for your routine dental cleaning, we will clear away harmful dental plaque containing bacterial toxins, including tartar (hardened plaque). If you are having a deep cleaning done, we will smooth the rough areas on your root surfaces to prevent plaque and tartar formation under the gum line. A deep cleaning helps affected gums to heal and will also check for sores, lumps, or swelling in your oral tissue.

Take dental X-rays: We may use X-rays of your teeth, bones, and soft tissues to spot potential dental issues like tooth decay and bone loss. For growing teens, these X-rays can track their jaw and tooth formation to also spot problems early. If you come in experiencing pain, these radiographs can help us see if wisdom teeth might be the issue.

Take dental impressions: We can create impressions of your teeth as models (casts) for our dentist to asses what dental treatments you might need for optimal oral health.

National Dental Hygiene Month

As you can see, our dental hygienists aren’t just here to clean your teeth and make them shine; they are part of your dental team that routinely monitors your dental health to spot developing problems. So what can you do to observe National Dental Hygiene Month? We have some ideas to help you keep your smile on track!

1. Floss daily. Not just once in a while and especially not just when you have your next dental visit (you know we can tell if you are not flossing regularly)! Flossing is important because it cleans the parts of your teeth that your toothbrush can’t, namely, between teeth and below the gum line. You would never just brush your teeth before a visit to our team, so don’t do that with flossing either! Your teeth, gums and pocketbook may pay the price.

2. Brush long enough. Two solid minutes of brushing per session are ideal, not too much, not too little, a strategy Goldilocks would approve! A clean mouth means brighter teeth, healthier gums and better breath!

3. Don’t skip an oral rinse. Rinsing with an ADA-approved antibacterial mouthwash is a great way to wash away lingering oral bacteria that are destructive to your smile while freshening your breath.

Practice Proper Brushing

One of the things our hygienist can do for you is to help you brush up on your brushing proficiency. First, you want to aim the soft-bristled toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to clean the most effectively. Move the brush gently back and forth in short, tooth-wide strokes. Clean all tooth surfaces: top, bottom, inside and outside surfaces. Your flossing tool will brush away food particles and plaque between teeth and the gumline. Finally, complete your brushing session with a gentle cleaning of your tongue, where bacteria like to collect.

Treat Your Smile Every Day

If you want to recreate the amazing feeling of smooth teeth at home, brush your teeth twice a day following these tips (your “fangs” will thank you). While our hygienists can give you a fresh start during your regular cleanings, the best way to treat your toothy grin is to clean your teeth and gums every day, twice a day. Trust us, you’ll notice the difference at your next dental cleaning, and so will we!

Do you put off routine dental care or much-needed dental work because of anxiety? Anxiety is how your body reacts to what you perceive to be stressful or unfamiliar situations. So that sense of distress or dread you have before an event manifests itself as anxiety. While a bit of anxiety can be useful, keeping us alert and aware in certain situations, it can also be debilitating when you are in need of dental care and delaying treatment.

Routine dental appointments allow us to help you keep your teeth and gums healthy, and avoiding this treatment can cause small problems to deteriorate your oral health, leaving you with bigger problems to deal with later.

Signs of Dental Anxiety

• Aggressive behavior
• Crying
• Extreme sweating
• Feeling faint
• Heart palpitations
• Low blood pressure
• Panic attacks

Dental anxiety is hard to ignore, so it’s important to recognize and address it. While dental anxiety impacts around 36 percent of the population, we can work together to make your dental visit comfortable and pleasant so you get the care you need!

Working Together

1. Schedule your visit in the morning as it tends to be the least busy time in the office. Fewer patients being treated mean less noise in the background and spending less time stressing over your upcoming appointment time.

2. Communicate with our dental team in advance about your dental anxiety. We can make your visit easier, whether by explaining what you can expect during your treatment or discussing dental sedation.

3. Bring a friend or family member with you to support and distract you and elevate your mood. They can even drive you home afterward so you can decompress and bask in the aftermath of completing a successful dental visit!

4. Relax when you get here by using noise-canceling headphones (or earbuds) to block out unnecessary stimulation. Listening to music, your favorite podcast or a meditation app can also destress you while you are here.

5. Speaking of a meditation app, listen to your favorite calming meditation while you wait in the dental chair. Beginning with your head, relax your muscles, one body part at a time, slowly moving down your body until you reach your feet.

6. Do some slow, deep breathing. Those calming breaths help ease your mind, so you feel more relaxed. Block out external stimulation by closing your eyes, then breathing in slowly through your nose, holding, and slowly breathing out through your mouth. Repeat until you feel the difference.

7. Practice some guided imagery. It is a good time to picture happy thoughts as you lie back in the dentist’s chair. Enjoy your favorite or funniest memories. Reminiscing about those wonderful moments feels like you’re reliving those moments all over again!

8. Request a break during your treatment. Work out a signal with our dentist and assistant that means “pause” so you can catch your breath and calm yourself for a moment. Knowing this can help you feel more empowered instead of helpless.

Don’t Delay, Call Today

Dental anxiety interferes with getting the dental care your teeth and gums need to thrive. Whether you’re anxious because of a past traumatic dental experience, fear a loss of control as someone is working over you, or you’re scared it will be painful, we can work together to make your dental visit great. We welcome you to call our team to address your concerns and take a confident leap by scheduling your next dental visit! Your smile will look and feel better, and you’ll be glad you did!

If you are brushing your teeth twice a day as recommended but not flossing between them, it’s not just your smile that will pay the price. Your toothbrush can’t reach in between teeth to remove dental plaque (a sticky bacterial biofilm). That’s where flossing comes in, because it can reach between teeth and below the gum line where bacteria accumulates to stop it in its tracks.

Dental Plaque

This harmful bacteria leads to cavities and periodontitis (inflamed, bleeding and receding gums) from bacterial infection. Without flossing those crucial areas around your teeth, your toothbrush will only be cleaning three out of five tooth surfaces! Brushing and flossing work together to clean all tooth surfaces and flossing is the only way to actually scrape plaque away from the teeth.

Bacterial Infection

If you have an infection inside your mouth, it will spread to the rest of your body through your bloodstream. Your teeth, gums, cheeks and tongue are all connected to your bloodstream where they can spread to your organs, potentially leading to diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, arthritis and Alzheimer’s.

Flossing is a key part of your daily oral hygiene routine that helps keep your smile and your body healthy. Flossing only needs to take around a minute of your time, so all you need to do is find a flossing tool that you like using and then just do it every day. Here are some flossing ideas to help you make the most out of your flossing efforts.

Flossing with Dental Floss

Take out about 18 to 24 inches of floss and wind it around your middle fingers. Take 1 to 2 inches and hold the floss taut between your thumbs and your index fingers. Next, slide the floss gently between each tooth. Be gentle while flossing to protect your gums. Keep sliding the floss up and down to clean plaque out of those areas. Floss right below your gum line in an up-and-down movement, rubbing it against both sides of each tooth. Avoid gliding the floss into your gums, and after you have cleaned one side of your mouth, pull out a new section of floss so you can clean the other side of your mouth.

Flossing Options

If working with dental floss isn’t your thing, you still have flossing options to choose from!

• Tiny interdental brushes clean between your teeth and work really well on removing plaque from dental bridges and are great for people with joint issues or mobility issues.
• Pointed rubber tips or wooden plaque removers that you slide back and forth to loosen debris.
• Water flossers/irrigators that shoot a thin, pressurized stream of water between your teeth and at the gum line.
• Pre-threaded flossing picks to help you scrape away food particles and plaque.

Who Should Floss?

Everyone! But flossing every day is especially important if you have abnormally tight spaces in between your teeth or you have individual dental prostheses like dental implants, bridges, crowns, dentures or dental veneers. Getting your teeth straightened with an orthodontic appliance, whether it’s braces or a clear aligner, also requires diligent flossing. You want to make sure dental plaque doesn’t build up and leave you with tooth and gum issues when the orthodontic treatment is complete.

When to Floss

Ideally, you want to floss before brushing your teeth because flossing helps pick up and release food and plaque that is stuck in between your teeth, while brushing removes these particles from your mouth. If you brush first and floss afterward, the food particles and plaque will remain until your next brushing session.

The American Dental Association encourages everyone to floss at least once a day and brush twice a day. Follow these flossing tips and the next time you come in for a routine dental cleaning and exam, your hygienist will be proud! We look forward to helping you have better oral for better overall health!