What is the best way to brush your teeth in the morning - before or after breakfast? — inexpensive dentistry on Kashirskoye Highway in Moscow

14.06.2018

Everything in the body is interconnected: the health of the gums and teeth affects all other organs. Oral diseases can lead to diseases of the stomach, esophagus, nervous, cardiovascular systems and even the spine. Caries often leads to deformation of the facial muscles, early appearance of wrinkles, and injury to the trigeminal nerve. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to prevention, which is several times cheaper than treatment.

Dentists know that proper cleaning is the best prevention. Any clinic provides training services for children and adults in cleaning techniques.

The fact is that when used correctly, the brush removes soft plaque, which is the main cause of damage to the enamel. Regular, and most importantly almost costless, brushing is preventive measure No. 1. You don't have to spend a lot of money or time to brush your teeth, but this procedure reduces the risk of tooth decay and gum disease by 65%.

How many times a day should you brush your teeth?

How much to brush your teeth: twice a day or every time after meals is a common question that the dentist is asked. To answer it, let's figure out why this procedure is needed at all.

Teeth are brushed to remove pieces of food, remnants of drinks, and plaque from microbes. Microbes living in the mouth leave waste products on the enamel and tongue, which contain acids harmful to humans. And leftover food and drinks are a favorable environment for the growth and reproduction of these bacteria. When we use a brush, we remove everything unnecessary, preventing damage to the enamel and the development of caries.

It is not possible to get rid of these bacteria once and for all. But if you don’t forget about hygiene, bacteria will not lead to carious formations. And if you use a brush every time after eating, the growth of microbes will be slower.

So, it is recommended to perform the procedure at least twice a day:

● in the morning - to freshen breath, remove traces of bacterial activity that have accumulated overnight;

● in the evening – remove leftover food and drinks, get ready for bed. Saliva helps cleanse the mouth of bacteria, and when we sleep, the body produces much less saliva, so bacteria actively multiply. To reduce their activity, we recommend using antibacterial paste at night.

Should you brush your teeth before or after eating? In the morning, we recommend brushing before eating so that bacteria that have accumulated overnight do not enter the digestive system along with breakfast. After meals or snacks during the day, it is enough to use a special thread or mouthwash, but you can go over with a brush - it will not harm.

Cleaning the tongue

Bacteria also accumulate on the tongue - in the recesses between the taste buds. When microorganisms begin to multiply rapidly, their waste products cause bad breath. Adults need to brush their tongue twice a day
, along with their teeth.
Children should be gradually taught to brush their tongue, starting from the tip. Children may have a strong gag reflex, and pressing on the root of the tongue will be very unpleasant for them. There are special devices for cleaning the tongue in the form of a scraper
made of metal or plastic. It is placed on the back of the tongue as close to the root as possible and moved forward, gently pressing on the tongue.

How to choose a toothbrush

Conventional, electric or ultrasonic? Soft or hard? Synthetic or natural? Accurate answers to all questions.

In addition, special
tongue brushes
, usually round in shape, with several tufts of short, stiff bristles. They loosen the plaque on the tongue and then remove it in the direction from the root to the tip of the tongue. You can also use regular toothbrushes to clean the back of your tongue. At the same time, try not to press the tongue cleaner on its root - this can cause vomiting or a coughing attack. Do not press too hard on the tongue with a scraper or the bristles of a regular brush - the delicate surface of the tongue is very easy to injure.

How to brush your teeth correctly: seven main recommendations

It is recommended to brush for about three minutes. This time is enough to remove soft plaque. It is important to follow seven recommendations.

1. On the lower jaw - with a sweeping movement from the gum to the edge, from bottom to top.
2. The upper jaw is cleaned from the gums to the incisors, moving from top to bottom.
3. It should be cleaned both from the outside and from the inside.
4. For the side surface, the brush is held at an angle of 45 degrees so that it captures two or three teeth at once.
5. And for the front, as well as the inside, at an angle of 90 degrees.
6. The chewing surface is cleaned with circular movements.
7. After the procedure, it is recommended to use a special thread or floss to remove any remaining food in the interdental spaces.

These are the basic rules. If you follow them, the risk of developing caries is reduced. To enhance the effect, you can use a therapeutic or preventive rinse. For example, Splat, Colgate, Lacalut, Listerine.

Dentist shows how to use a brush on a toy hippo

How to rinse your mouth

After brushing your teeth and tongue, you should rinse your mouth. To do this, use tap water or special rinses
. They allow you to maintain fresh breath, and their active components contribute to the prevention and treatment of dental diseases. Therapeutic rinses must be prescribed by a doctor, but choose regular ones according to your taste. For one rinse, a tablespoon of rinse aid is enough - 10-15 ml. Approximately this amount fits into the measuring cap that comes with the bottle. After rinsing your mouth, refrain from eating or drinking for about half an hour to allow the mouthwash to take effect.

Three common mistakes

These mistakes lead to inflammation of the gums, the development of caries, and wedge-shaped defects.

1. Move not from top to bottom, but from right to left horizontally. With this approach, food accumulates in the gaps, which leads to the destruction of the enamel.
2. Store the brush in the bathroom without a cap and rinse it rarely. Due to high humidity, bacteria quickly accumulate on the bristles. To avoid this, rinse the brush thoroughly each time after the procedure and store it in a plastic case.
3. Use regular thread instead of dental floss. Never do this! A regular thread is not sterile, which means it can lead to infection.

Take time to cleanse in the evening

At work or at university, it is difficult to clean your teeth efficiently, so once or twice a day you need to do a thorough cleaning using brushes. Each brush must be placed under the arch and the interdental spaces and the space under the arch must be cleaned. But this is only relevant for those who wear braces.

To clean braces, a brush with a brush is useful; when treating aligners, a regular or electric brush is sufficient.

It’s easier with aligners: you can brush your teeth with an ultrasonic electric toothbrush. They often have a timer that measures the required 2 minutes. To make sure that your teeth are clean, you can use an elixir with the function of “revealing” plaque - as a rule, after such a rinse, you have to brush your teeth again.

For convenience and comfort, all orthodontic patients can have an irrigator at home - a device that cleans teeth with a thin stream of water under pressure. Water literally “knocks out” all the remaining food from hard-to-reach places and massages the gums, which is useful not only during orthodontic treatment, but in general always.

An irrigator helps keep your teeth perfectly clean

Therapeutic and prophylactic pastes

These pastes contain substances that have an antibacterial effect. Their effect is to reduce inflammation and prevent the development of caries. Such pastes should be purchased on the recommendation of a specialist in pharmacies.

Such pastes are divided into:

• Contains extracts of medicinal herbs and essential oils that help relieve inflammation and accelerate tissue regeneration processes. The essential oils in the composition help eliminate bad breath.
• Containing minerals and salts, which helps strengthen tooth enamel, accelerate tissue healing and reduce plaque formation.

What happens if you don't brush your teeth for a long time?

As noted earlier, pathogenic microorganisms feel quite comfortable in the oral cavity. Together with food particles, they populate the entire surface of the oral cavity (enamel, mucous membranes). As a result, over time, so-called dental plaque forms. It turns out to be a vicious circle when bacteria first select comfortable conditions for their existence, and then have a negative impact on the environment by releasing waste products. Thus, toxic metabolic products cause both destruction of tooth enamel and inflammation of the mucous membranes, for example, gingivitis and a more serious disease - periodontitis (can be a complication of gingivitis). This pathology is characterized by the formation of pathological pockets between the tooth and gum tissue. They are also the entrance gates for infection that affects the tooth root and ligamentous apparatus. Severe periodontitis is characterized by exposure of the neck of the tooth, loosening and loss of teeth. Treatment of such cases is only surgical and requires a lot of time.

The golden rule of medicine says: it is easier to prevent any disease than to treat it later. This statement also applies to dentistry. High-quality and regular teeth cleaning will help you avoid many problems that will not only require time to eliminate, but will also be accompanied by significant material costs.

The child has

Brushing your teeth in childhood is an important point, since habits formed in childhood most often contribute to the formation of the right attitude towards hygiene and your health in the future. Caring for children's teeth is slightly different from hygiene for adults. When your child's first baby teeth erupt, you should begin caring for them. To do this, you need to carefully wipe them with special sanitary napkins or gauze soaked in warm boiled water. You can also purchase special silicone brushes and pastes designed for babies that are safe to swallow. You need to start brushing your teeth once a day, gradually accustoming your child to the fact that the procedure is regular. Once your child gets used to it, you can add one more dental hygiene routine to the day. In adulthood, the hygiene process must be under the supervision of an adult in order to explain to the child the correct cleaning technique. It is extremely important that brushing teeth does not cause negativity in the child, for this you should come up with some kind of encouragement or incentive.

At what age should teeth brushing be taught?

Dentists recommend brushing your child’s teeth from the moment they erupt. First, of course, the parents do this for the child, using special dental wipes or silicone fingertips. Thus, by the time a child learns to hold a brush himself and coordinate movements, the habit of caring for his teeth has already been formed. The parents’ task now is to reinforce the correct cleaning technique and monitor its implementation. Children's toothbrushes have a small head and a larger, easy-to-grip handle. The bristles of children's brushes are soft to avoid injury to the gums.

Why is it harmful to brush your teeth frequently?

Some people are convinced that the more often you brush your teeth, the better. Although this opinion is false. You should not clean the tooth surface immediately after eating, as the enamel during this period is weakened and susceptible to destruction. By cleaning, you can damage the surface of the enamel and create microcracks, into which bacteria can later enter, the proliferation of which can provoke various dental diseases. Also, if you brush your teeth frequently, you can damage your gums, which can trigger the development of inflammation in the periodontal tissues.

If your teeth look healthy in appearance and don’t bother you, then you don’t have to go to the doctor

Not true

This is our mentality: until something hurts, few people go to the doctor. And this applies not only to dentistry. This behavior is partly due to Soviet medicine, which is used to scare everyone. Partly, people simply don’t know where to go, don’t trust the doctor, are afraid to find out something unpleasant, and don’t want to spend money. But, of course, it is better to check regularly. You need to go to the dentist once every six months for hygienic cleaning, during which the doctor will use a special device to remove the plaque that you cannot remove at home and conduct a preventive examination of your teeth and oral cavity. This will allow any possible problems to be noticed and treated at an early stage and thus save money and time. After all, the longer you live with a problem, the longer and more expensive it will be to treat it.

Folk remedies for oral hygiene

Folk remedies for oral hygiene should be used with caution so as not to cause mechanical damage to tooth enamel or damage the gums. This especially applies to the recommendation to brush your teeth with soda or salt instead of toothpaste.

Attention! Traditional medicine for toothache recommends a decoction of sage, yarrow, and oak bark. Oak bark helps well with incipient periodontitis and gingivitis.

To eliminate bad breath - halitosis, it is recommended:

• rinse your mouth with 3% hydrogen peroxide several times a day;
• Dissolve a few drops of alcohol infusion of horseradish juice (root) in a glass of warm boiled water and use for rinsing;
• for the same purpose, use a decoction of herbs - mint, oregano, St. John's wort in a ratio of 4: 2: 2, 3 tablespoons per 0.3 liters of boiling water, leave;
• infusion of wormwood and St. John's wort;
• infusion with celery root in vodka – 1 tsp. per glass of water;
• 1 tsp salt for 2 tbsp. vegetable oil for rinsing;
• eat fried sunflower seeds;
• finish your meal with ground ginger - 0.5 tsp.

A natural antiseptic, parsley, helps relieve pain from stomatitis. You need to chew the leaf or rinse your mouth with its juice. Effective anti-inflammatory agents are decoctions of chamomile, calendula flowers, linden, and plantain leaves. Their use also helps heal wounds and mouth ulcers. It is good to massage the gums using fir, sea buckthorn, olive oils, and tea tree oil. Horseradish and celandine juice in decoctions and infusions should be used carefully, in small quantities.

At what age should a child brush his teeth?

This question concerns all young fathers and mothers. What do experts say about this? Should children have their teeth brushed? Dentists offer two options:

1. Children should begin oral hygiene procedures even before the first tooth erupts. Microorganisms accumulate both on the surface of the enamel and on the mucous membrane of the cheeks, gums, palate, and tongue. Therefore, young children, like adults, need hygiene. Cleaning the oral cavity should begin at 3-4 months of age. For this purpose, a special children's silicone brush is used, which is placed on the finger.
2. Children need to brush their teeth after teething. This process is individual for each child, so it is difficult to give exact dates. There is no need to try to brush the tooth at the moment of its eruption; you need to wait until it is completely finished so that the child does not get hurt. After this, you can purchase a children's brush, which has bristles made of silicone and has a special stop. You need to start brushing your teeth without toothpaste.

Since there is no clear answer to the question posed, each situation must be approached individually. To begin, parents should consult with their pediatrician and pediatric dentist. Specialists will help you choose the optimal time to start oral hygiene procedures.

Additional hygiene products

Experts recommend not limiting yourself to a regular toothbrush and toothpaste and using additional products daily (see photo) to maintain proper oral cleanliness. Among them are:

1. Dental floss (floss). Necessary to clean the spaces between teeth from plaque. Flosses are made from synthetic materials or silk. Dental floss can be regular or waxed. In the first case, it will be divided into several threads when brushing your teeth. They clean teeth better due to the larger contact area. Wax-coated threads do not separate and are able to easily penetrate between the contact surfaces of the teeth. They are recommended for children, as well as people who are just starting to use this hygiene product. In addition, flosses differ in cross-section, which can be round, ribbon, flat or voluminous. This variety allows you to individually choose dental floss based on the anatomical structure of each person’s dentition.

2. Irrigator. It is a special device that creates a thin stream of water under high pressure. This pressure is selected so as to effectively clean the surface of the teeth from plaque without injuring the soft tissues. On the contrary, the irrigator has a massage effect on the gums, relieves inflammation and eliminates bleeding. The device is indispensable for people who have braces or other bulky dental structures that are difficult to clean.
3. Mouth rinses. Some people believe that the only purpose of mouthwashes is to freshen your breath. In fact, these hygiene products have a much wider spectrum of action. They may contain antiseptic and anti-inflammatory components, minerals, agents that help relieve bleeding gums, etc. Based on the set of these active substances, all rinses are divided into hygienic and therapeutic and prophylactic.
4. Brushes and tongue scrapers. They help remove plaque and microorganisms from the surface of the tongue. For high-quality and complete oral hygiene, it must also be cleaned regularly. This procedure will be of particular benefit to patients who smoke, as well as those suffering from diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract, accompanied by bad breath.
5. Cleaners. These devices are designed both for cleaning interdental spaces and can be used for cleaning fixed dentures, orthodontic appliances, etc. They can be made in the shape of a cylinder or a cone. In addition, they differ in size. The service life of one such product is about 5 days.
6. Dentifrice. It is a good preventative against caries. It has a polishing and whitening effect, helping to remove stains from tea, coffee, and cigarettes. The question is often asked: is it harmful to brush your teeth with tooth powder? There is only one answer: no, it is not harmful. The decline in its popularity occurred mainly as a result of a marketing policy focusing on the promotion of oral hygiene products (pastes, rinses) of large international companies.
7. Chewing gum. It is an excellent solution for mechanical removal of food residues. At the same time, you need to know that you can chew gum only after eating for 10 minutes, no more. You also need to make sure that there is no sugar in its composition. Chewing gum should not be used by patients with phenylketonuria, children with baby teeth, during orthodontic treatment, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Using a regular brush in combination with these products will allow you to better clean the oral cavity of plaque. For an unprepared person, such an abundance of hygiene products can lead to difficulties in choosing the most suitable ones. In such situations, it is necessary to contact a dentist who will select everything necessary for high-quality cleaning of the oral cavity, taking into account the characteristics of a particular patient.

Features of brushing teeth with restoration structures

Compliance with the rules of oral hygiene is of great importance in cases where there are various types of restorations in the mouth - such as veneers, lumineers and crowns, as well as bridges and implants. Plaque accumulates on artificial surfaces no less than on natural teeth, and sometimes even more. In addition, the patient’s future health depends on the quality of oral hygiene. For example, if in the case of implantation you neglect to brush your teeth, then you can get inflammation and rejection of the implant. As for bridges, the space between the bridge and the gum will require careful care.

In the case of ceramic veneers and lumineers, hygiene is also equally important. At the border between them and the native enamel, food debris can accumulate and plaque can form, which can ultimately lead to caries. The danger lies in the fact that under the thinnest plates, which are veneers and lumineers, you may not notice how the carious process develops. Irrigators will also be useful for artificial restorations - special devices that, using water pressure, help clean even the most inaccessible places. In addition, the device heals the gums and generally improves the effectiveness of oral hygiene. Today, manufacturers offer a fairly wide range of models, so you can choose an irrigator to suit any needs and budget.

No matter how thoroughly and regularly we brush our teeth, it is still not enough. Once every six months or a year, it is necessary to visit a hygienist’s office, where, with the help of ultrasound and sandblasting machines such as Air Flow, the teeth undergo general treatment, and their owner acquires a confident and beautiful smile!

Sweets are bad for teeth

Is it true. And not only sweets

It all depends on the frequency of consumption of sweets and how long it remains in the mouth. If we quickly swallow one candy, then no disaster will happen - only extra calories will be added. But if we take some toffee, nougat or caramel and chew it for a long time, then this is where the risk of caries appears. When we eat something sweet, the pH environment in the mouth changes - it becomes more acidic, this worsens the condition of the teeth, they weaken and deteriorate faster. But, unfortunately, even a complete abstinence from sweets does not guarantee the absence of dental problems. Almost any food has a negative effect on teeth. Therefore, ideally, you should brush your teeth after every meal.

Toothbrush is important

Particular attention should be paid to choosing a good toothbrush. Too hard bristles can damage tooth enamel and injure your gums. Too soft will not cope well with plaque. For children, the toothbrush should be small in size, with soft bristles. Modern developments offer brushes with different directions of bristles, their different level arrangement for more effective cleaning of hard-to-reach places. There is a large selection, all you have to do is choose the one you need.

Important! Hygiene and proper storage of a toothbrush will protect against harmful microorganisms entering the oral cavity.

Recommended:

• After brushing your teeth, wash the brush with warm water and soap;
• store the toothbrush in a dry place, preferably in a case, to avoid the proliferation of harmful environments and dust accumulation;
• use a portable ultraviolet sterilizer to disinfect bristles;
• twice a week, disinfect the brush by immersing it in hydrogen peroxide or medical alcohol for a few minutes;
• Store the toothbrush vertically, with the bristles facing up.

It is recommended to change your toothbrush every three months. This is due to the fact that it loses its properties, loses its shape, and the bristles become deformed. The brush no longer cleans teeth effectively enough and is a carrier of bacteria. Some are coated with food coloring as a color indicator. If it becomes discolored, it means it needs to be replaced. Improved toothbrushes include electric and ultrasonic. Their efficiency is higher than usual; they remove plaque and food debris better. It is preferable to use an ultrasonic brush; it has a more gentle effect on tooth enamel compared to an electric one. In addition, this brush cleans 5mm deep between the tooth and gum; it is suitable for cleaning implants and braces.

Toothbrushes are necessary for cleaning the tooth surface and gums from plaque, and it also allows you to massage the gums, which is very useful for the prevention of bleeding gums and subsequent various diseases.

How to choose toothpastes?

There are many pastes for different purposes. It is better to have several types of toothpastes for optimal dental and oral care.

Functions of toothpastes:

1. Whitening;
2. Prevention of caries;
3. Treatment of periodontitis;
4. Prevention of tartar;
5. For teeth with a sensitive neck.

Multifunctional toothpastes are popular, which simultaneously serve to eliminate the inflammatory process, saturate the enamel with fluoride and calcium, and strengthen the gums.