General Dental Advice
The Australian Dental Association has 4 recommendations to help maintain good oral health:
1) Brush twice daily (morning and night), with a fluoride toothpaste.*
2) Use dental floss (or an interdental cleaning device) at least once daily.**
3) Reduce sugary drinks and food.***
4) Visit the dentist for regular check-ups.
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We like to add our own tip number 5 which is to avoid crunching on hard food (e.g. hard nuts, lollies, ice, etc.).
*Further information about toothbrushing:
Toothbrushing should be carried out in a systematic manner in order to clean all accessible tooth surfaces. Each tooth will have 5 surfaces - labial (facing the lips) or buccal (facing the cheeks) side, the occlusal (biting) side, lingual (facing the tongue) side, distal (facing the back of the mouth) side and mesial (facing the front of the mouth) side. The mesial and distal surfaces are usually inaccessible by the bristles of a toothbrush. The amount of toothpaste to use is usually the size of a pea.
Our recommendation is to start at one corner of the mouth (e.g. upper right, very back teeth) and start brushing one surface at a time, then work your way tooth by tooth until you reach the other corner of the mouth. Then repeat the process on another tooth surface, cleaning from one corner to the next and repeat again until all accessible surfaces of all your teeth have been cleaned.
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​With manual toothbrushes, start by holding the toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to your gums and use gentle, circular motions to clean the teeth.
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With electric toothbrushes, similarly position the bristles at a 45-degree angle towards the gum line of one tooth surface and turn it on. With only a light pressure on your teeth and gums, let the electric motor do the cleaning for you. We suggest you move the bristles around the entire single tooth surface for 5 times (i.e. start by touching the gum line, then moving away from the gums in a clockwise or anticlockwise manner to clean the rest of the tooth and then back to touching the gum line again, repeat this action for 5 times). Do this for each tooth, one surface at a time, from one side of the mouth to the other, and for both the upper and lower teeth.
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**Further information about interdental cleaning
There are several options available for interdental cleaning. The most economical option is to use a dental floss which is effective for tight spaces between teeth. Other options include a flosspick, a toothpick, an interdental brush (e.g. Piksters) or a water-flosser (e.g. Waterpik).
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***Further information about sugar:
​We need to be aware of the two aspects regarding sugar which causes damage to teeth - the quantity consumed and the time of exposure.
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Regarding the quantity of sugar consumed, a previous Australian Dental Association factsheet has mentioned that less than 15g of sugars per 100g of product on food labels as being okay. Generally, less is better for dental health.
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As for the time of exposure to sugar, this refers to the total amount of time your teeth are exposed to sugary food or drinks. Think about the number of meals you have in day (e.g. breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, snacking between meals) and the length of time taken to complete each meal or drink. Similarly to the quantity of sugar consumes, generally the less time of exposure to sugar is better for dental health.
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As a guide, it is a good idea to have nothing with sugar in-between the main meals. Rinsing your mouth with plain water after meals is a simple thing to do which can be helpful as well.
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For extra protection, you may wish to consider some products in the market such as high-fluoride containing toothpaste, remineralisation pastes, mouthrinses and sugar-free gum.
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