The Dos and Don’ts of DIY Dental Care

Caring for your teeth is something you can do yourself. However, there are times when it’s best to still rely on a dentist. Below are some of the dos and don’ts of DIY dental care. Do adopt a strict brushing routine

Cleaning your teeth is something you shouldn’t rely on a dentist to do. While a hygienist can help to get rid of stubborn tartar, a thorough and regular brushing routine can usually prevent the need for this.

Make sure you’re brushing for two minutes at a time twice per day. A good rule is to spend 1 minute on the top row of teeth and 1 minute on the bottom row, while spending 30 seconds of this brushing the front and 30 seconds brushing the back. 

Don’t brush too hard

You can brush your teeth too hard. This can cause enamel to wear away, exposing yellow dentin beneath and making your teeth very sensitive.

To brush correctly, make sure that you’re applying firm pressure but brushing each tooth in small circles – don’t use vigorous back and forth motions.

Do try flossing your teeth

Flossing is something that you should do on top of brushing – and not just when you’ve got food stuck between your teeth. Flossing helps to clean in between your teeth where your brush can’t reach and could help to prevent tooth decay.

Don’t use mouthwash as a substitute for brushing

Mouthwash can help to get rid of bacteria around the mouth. However, it won’t remove plaque from your teeth – only brushing can do this. You should brush your teeth and use mouthwash.

Do look into some extra dental tools

If you want to take at-home dental care to the next level, there are other tools that you can buy. This could include a mouth mirror for getting a better view of the back of your teeth or even a telscope for looking at your teeth in detail.

You can also buy tools for at-home scaling, but bear in mind that these could cause damage to your enamel if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Don’t buy non-approved dental products

Dental products should always be approved for use in your country. Avoid any whitening toothpaste or mouthwash that isn’t approved by dentists – such a product could be useless or may even be damaging to your teeth. 

Do look into professional teeth whitening

At-home teeth whitening kits tend to be fairly unreliable. If you’re looking for an effective whitening treatment, it’s best to get an appointment with a professional dental practitioner. Professional teeth whitening is much more likely to have long-lasting results. 

Don’t try to extract your own teeth

This one might sound obvious, but there are an alarming amount of incidents where people attempt to take out their own teeth at home, usually as a result of a toothache and a desire to save money. Extracting a tooth isn’t just a case of yanking it out – without knowing what you’re doing you could cause damage to other teeth or your jawbone, as well as increasing the risk of infection. 

This post is in collaboration however all opinions are my own.