Building Good Oral Health Habits: A Guide

Good oral health is much more than just brushing your teeth twice a day. Preventive dentistry involves education, treatment, and the steps necessary to maintain healthy teeth and gums. From daily brushing to checkups and professional cleanings, a comprehensive preventative dentistry plan can help you avoid gum disease, cavities, and other issues that impact your oral health and overall well-being.

Prioritizing Preventive Care for Optimal Oral Health

At the office of Central Smiles Cosmetic and Family Dentistry, we prioritize taking a proactive approach to maintaining optimal oral health. We recommend the following steps to ensure your smile and those of your loved ones remain in top shape:

• Establish a strong foundation for good oral health with an effective brushing and flossing routine at home. Brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day with an ADA-approved fluoride-containing toothpaste.
• Maintain a balanced and nutritious diet, avoiding food and beverages high in sugars or very acidic. Limit sticky sweets and brush afterward. Swap out sodas and sports drinks for water instead.
• Avoid detrimental oral habits like nail biting, chewing on pencils or ice, lip or tongue piercings, and don't smoke or use tobacco products. If your little one has a habit of sucking their thumb or fingers, help them break it at home or seek dental advice and possible intervention before their permanent teeth come in.
• Get regular checkups, professional cleanings, and routine care as the American Dental Association recommends.

Preventing Oral Diseases and Detecting Developing Issues

Our top priority is ensuring patients of all ages enjoy the benefits of good oral health. You can trust our office to provide you and your family with the guidance, resources, and care needed to establish a strong foundation for a lifetime of healthy smiles.

During regular checkup visits, we carefully inspect each smile, looking for signs of dental disease or other issues that could impact oral health and overall well-being. After reviewing every patient's medical and dental history, we perform an extra and intraoral exam. We screen for oral cancer and other concerning lesions, check occlusion, TMJ function, and more. We may recommend diagnostic films as needed to detect cavities, periodontal disease, and other oral pathology. With regular checkup visits, we are able to identify emerging issues early in their development when they're typically easiest to treat.

As part of a comprehensive preventive care plan, professional dental cleanings provide an excellent opportunity to remove any accumulated plaque and tartar your toothbrush has missed. Since dental plaque and tartar harbor bacteria that can lead to dental disease, a professional cleaning helps protect your smile from the damage associated with cavities and gum disease. We'll also use this time to provide instruction on the most effective methods of brushing and flossing and offer nutritional guidance to support a healthy smile. Children can be particularly vulnerable to cavities, and we may provide periodic fluoride treatments and dental sealants during these visits for extra protection against tooth decay.

At the office of Central Smiles Cosmetic and Family Dentistry, we're committed to providing comprehensive care that supports healthy, radiant smiles! Give us a call today to learn more about our office and the wide range of services we offer.