We all know the advice for healthy teeth --brush twice daily and don't eat too much sugar.
But there's a little more to preventing tooth decay than these guidelines suggest.
Here's a few more helpful tips:
- Brush up on your skills
The mechanical act of toothbrushing removes the very sticky dental plaque. Plaque forms naturally on teeth immediately after you've eaten; and even after toothbrushing. But this film of initial film of plaque doesn't cause damage to the teeth until it reaches a certain stage of maturity. The exact amount of time this takes isn't known; but is at least more than 12 hours.
- Take 2 minutes to brush teeth for removing plaque;
- Brush at night and one other time daily;
2. Use flouride toothpaste
The key ingredient in toothpaste is fluoride, which prevents tooth decay. Fluoride replaces lost mnerals in teeth and also makes them stronger.
For maximum benefit, use toothpaste with 1350-1500ppmF.
3. Spit, don't rinse
Once you've brushed, don't rinse your out -you're washing away the fluoride. This can be a difficult habit to break, but can reduce tooth decay by up to 25%
4. Limit 'sugar hits'
How often you eat sugar also matters.
Typically, your teeth can be exposed to four "sugar hits" -episodes of sugar intake -daily without irreversible damage to the teeth.
Why not try counting how many sugary hits you have a day?
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