Keeping your oral health in check is important throughout the day, but especially when you wake up and before you go to sleep. Neglecting to apply thorough care to your teeth and gums before bed can make your mouth the perfect home for bacteria to accumulate and plaque to develop. This can even negatively affect your healthy sleeping pattern and leave you with long-term oral health issues. That’s why it’s imperative to ensure you’re applying care and maintaining your oral health while you rest at night.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of the top three nighttime oral health essential tips to help keep teeth and gums healthy and strong through the night.
1. Never Skip Brushing Before Bed
You should always be brushing and flossing nightly before bed. Going to bed without removing food that has accumulated over the day and plaque and bacteria can cause extremely negative effects on your mouth. Brushing and flossing at night helps to protect teeth and gums against plaque build-up and worse oral health issues, such as tooth decay and gum disease. If you are vulnerable to cavities and gum disease for a certain reason, your dentist may recommend brushing directly after eating dinner, along with before you go to sleep.
2. Brush Properly
Yes, it’s true, there’s a proper and improper way to be brushing your teeth. Using the correct motions can help you remove plaque and food debris much more effectively and keep your mouth clean and free of bacteria. Avoid applying too much pressure onto your teeth as this can damage your teeth. However, make sure you are not brushing too softly either as this method may not remove any plaque or leave some in hard to reach areas. Brush back and forth quite gently using short strokes across the tooth surface, inner surfaces and tongue. For the backs of your teeth, apply the brush tip and stroke up and down gently.
3. Always Floss
Flossing effectively removes food particles and debris in those hard to reach areas while the plaque build-up is still soft and easy to remove. If debris is allowed to remain on the teeth, bacteria can increase throughout the night and feed on your tooth enamel as you rest. If plaque and debris are not removed and allowed to build up, it can harden and turn into tartar, which then requires removal from a professional dental hygienist. Many people opt to only floss at night, however, if you are someone with a history of gum disease or tartar, your dentist may suggest flossing both morning and night. Slipacoff Dental is your dental clinic in Sarnia for comprehensive oral health care. Whether you require cosmetic, general or emergency dental services, we’ll ensure you’re cared for.