Benefits of good oral hygiene

A clean mouth helps prevent dental disease. No matter how good the diet and lifestyle, sticky plaque accumulates on everyone's teeth promoting gum disease. As gums recede, more plaque builds up and gum disease worsens. Careful brushing of the teeth twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste will enable the tooth to mend itself after being attacked with plaque acids. Teeth can also erode, this means they dissolve away when you have acidic food and drink too often. Rinsing the acids away with water after eating helps to prevent this erosion.

Ideally, everyone should brush their teeth twice a day with a soft-medium brush and a fluoride toothpaste. The brush should be replaced when bristles become out of shape. The bristles should be placed between the teeth and gums pointing towards the gums using short circular movements. Every tooth should be brushed around making sure the brush can be felt on the gums. A gentle scrub is better than using too much force and as small children cannot brush properly until they are about seven or eight, brush their teeth yourself and teach them the technique properly.

Dental floss helps clean between the teeth. If your dentist or hygienist has told you that you need to floss, they will almost certainly show you how to do it, and you will probably need to practise in front of a mirror. Use a piece of floss about eight inches long. Wrap the ends around the middle fingers of each hand leaving two to three inches between the first finger and thumb. Then gently slide the floss between two teeth and put it round one tooth next to the gum using your fingers. The floss is then moved between the teeth several times. This is then repeated for every tooth. Children do not need to use floss.

Lifestyle

The amount of plaque produced is consistent with the amount of starchy, sugary foods that are consumed - so the more starchy, sugary foods consumed, the more that plaque is produced. Bacteria in the mouth produce acid from sugars, which decays the teeth. As the bacteria grow, they produce a white film around the necks of the teeth called plaque, and this plaque contains the acid that causes decay. Fizzy drinks are acidic and also cause erosion of the teeth. Refined sugar is the worst for the teeth as it is so readily digested by oral bacteria. Sugars from fruit and starch, however, are less harmful. Because bacteria need constant nourishment, snacking is bad and eating should be confined as much as possible to meal times. However, hard fibrous foods like apples have a mechanical cleaning effect on the teeth and some foods like cheese or sugar-free chewing gum can protect against decay because they raise the alkalinity and stimulate saliva.

Vitamins and iron are also important, so meat and dairy products are healthy. Tobacco, well known to promote oral cancer, can lead to gum inflammation and too much alcohol is also bad for oral health.