So, how do you prevent that foul smell in your mouth? By doing as I say. (Oh! I have wanted to say this for so long!) Read on.

Rinse your mouth well every time you eat or drink anything. The number of meals and snacks that we eat in a day usually surpasses the number of times we brush our teeth. Moreover, brushing is not possible every time you nibble on something or take a sip of a drink. Make a habit of rinsing your mouth after having eaten anything. You can use a good mouthwash once a day to freshen up your breath. Also, drink plenty of water throughout the day. Keeping the mouth salivated is simple yet one of the most effective ways to prevent bad breath.

Try to avoid food with garlic and onions as these trigger bad breath. Brush thoroughly an hour after you have eaten strong-smelling food. Cut down on smoking or consumption of tobacco in any other form. Tobacco not only gives you bad breath, it also spoils your smile with stains.

You can chew on mint leaves, parsley, green cardamom, or anise seeds to freshen up your breath. Keep some of these breath fresheners with you all the time. And don’t forget to visit the dentist if no amount of oral care seem to help you.

Take care. Happy smiling!

In terms of food, it is recommended that you keep the consumption of sugary and starchy food to a minimum. Sugary and starchy food stick to your teeth and the rest of the mouth, helping bacteria flourish. This is why it is important not to consume anything sweet before hitting the bed. Bacteria may play havoc in the mouth when the body is asleep. Avoiding sugary food does not mean you cannot bite into your favorite fruit. Try to choose the whole version instead of the juice. The fiber in the fruit helps cleanse your mouth. Fruits are good for your dental health. Apart from fruits, consume food rich in calcium. Thus, you can eat cheese and all other dairy products without worrying about your teeth.

Now, let’s talk about the thing that accompanies food: drinks. Avoid those fizzy drinks at all costs. Consume alcohol in moderation. Rinse your mouth well after you have had red wine or you will stain your teeth. Reduce the consumption of coffee as much as you can. Drink about 8-10 glasses of water a day.

Speaking of water, you need to make it your friend. Develop the habit of rinsing your mouth. Rinsing makes sure most of the food particles are washed off your mouth. Rinsing also takes care of foul breath. It also makes you feel fresh. Drinking water also keeps your mouth hydrated, preventing dry mouth, which further prevents oral problems.

Now that you know the secret to good dental health, keep smiling!

I brush and floss my teeth daily.
If you are letting bacteria thrive in your mouth in the form of plaque, you will have bad breath. Fight the bacteria with the two most trustworthy weapons you have – the toothbrush and the floss.

I rinse my mouth after consuming anything.
Rinse your mouth several times a day, especially after eating or drinking something, even if it was a tiny piece of pastry you ate.

I clean my tongue regularly.
Use a tongue scraper or a soft toothbrush to clean your tongue. A lot of importance has been laid on getting rid of the bacteria off the teeth, but the tongue also becomes a shelter for bacteria if not cleaned properly. Clean both sides of the tongue. However, don’t scrape too hard.

I eat plenty of fiber.
By fiber, I mean roughage that comes in vegetables and fruits. The roughage helps keep the tongue clean, thus preventing any bacterial growth. Eat as many fruits and vegetables as you can eat.

I drink plenty of water.
It is important to keep the mouth hydrated as bacteria loves to make its home in dry mouths. Gulp down at least 8-10 glasses of water a day.

Now, can any kind of dental hygiene advice be simpler than this?

Rinse your mouth well after you have eaten anything sweet. Now, it is not too difficult to get some water to cleanse your mouth after satisfying your sweet tooth. Yeah, the after-taste will be gone, but isn’t that better than feeding bacteria in your mouth?

Rinse your mouth after you have consumed coffee, tea, or other sweetened beverage. If you are the workaholic who keeps his/her spirit high by pouring cups of coffee and tea down his/her system, you may be damaging your teeth beyond you can imagine. It’s better to cut down the intake of these beverages. It is important that you rinse your teeth every time you gulp down a cup of coffee or tea.

Ask your dentist for the right toothpaste. Your dentist can help you pick up the right toothpaste. If you do not drink fluoride water, he/she will ask you to use fluoride toothpaste. He/she may prescribe you sugar-free toothpaste too.

Now, some different kind of advice. You know, everything needs to be taken in moderation. Sweets too. Pamper your taste buds but don’t load them with sweets. Also, choose the right kind of sweet. Choose a fruit over a bar of chocolate to satisfy that craving.

Hope this information helps. Happy smiling!

Drinking carbonated drinks and juices

Ideally, you should avoid drinking carbonated drinks if you want to take care of your teeth. These drinks erode the enamel of the teeth making them weak. If you have to have even a sip of a sweetened juice or a carbonated drink, dental experts recommend using a straw so that the exposure to the teeth is minimal.

Eating a fruit instead of its juice

Eating a fruit gives you all its nutrition and fiber, whereas drinking fruit juice does not provide the fiber. Moreover, juices are acidic in nature and thus end up adversely affecting the surface of the teeth.

Drinking water

Water plays an important role in oral care. Water is responsible for washing away residues of food inside the mouth. It helps keep the mouth clean. Furthermore, water helps keep the mouth hydrated; a dry mouth is a place for bacteria to flourish.

Drinking, as the term implies

Now, let’s talk about the real kind of drinking. Everything makes sense when taken in moderation. Alcohol too needs to taken in moderation. Red wine is one particular drink that has an immediate effect on your teeth. It stains your teeth. The smart thing to do after drinking red wine is to rinse your mouth well.

Hope this post helped you understand drinking in the context of dental health.

Happy smiling!

• Clenching and grinding of teeth: Sometimes, people do it as a way to express their anger. And at other times, they do it as an act of fidgeting. The problem with clenching and grinding is that it leads to the chipping of teeth.

• Opening bottles with teeth: Trying to use the teeth for anything other than eating, speaking and smiling has its bad effects. Using the teeth to open containers may cause the teeth to loosen. It also causes severe chipping of the teeth.
• Thumb sucking: Kids should be discouraged to stop sucking their thumbs at an early age. Otherwise, they are likely to develop buck teeth later.
• Nail biting: Now, nail biting is a bad habit no matter how you look at it. Wondering how it harms your teeth? Well, since you use your teeth to bite nails, your teeth get chipped as a result.
• Tooth picking: You should pick your teeth only when it’s required and only with a toothpick. Using anything else for picking the teeth causes damage to the gums.

Hope this post answers some of your queries. If you have more questions, let us know.

Happy smiling!

Now, after a certain age, that is when you are counted amongst the senior citizens, you need to take a little extra care of your dental health. With age, the production of saliva decreases in the mouth. Also, certain medicines cause dry mouth. Now, dryness of mouth triggers bigger dental and gum problems. Thus, you need to take care of your oral health more. With age, people find it difficult to hold and use the toothbrush properly.

If you are at the threshold of such an age, here’s what you need to do:

• Get yourself an electric or battery-operated toothbrush to make brushing easy and convenient.

• Rinse your mouth after consuming anything, absolutely anything. This will also help you keep your mouth hydrated.
• Drink plenty of water throughout the day. You need it at all stages of life. And water will keep dryness of mouth away.
• Include some fiber in the diet. Some people resort to consuming simple food. Make sure you have adequate roughage in your meals to cleanse not only your mouth but also your system.
• If you wear dentures, make sure you clean them after every meal.
• Keep all the appointments with your dentist. Even if they are just regular check-ups, never miss an appointment.

If you have an elderly person in your family, tell them how they should go about taking care of their teeth.

Bad breath, or halitosis, can mar your smile when you see people returning a frown. While one instance of bad breath may be caused due to consumption of pungent food, another instance may have a deep rooted dental cause. If bad breath is a constant problem with you, seek your dentist’s help for remedies.

Cavities are known to be a nasty dental problem. Do you know that cavities can happen at any time? Even an infant feeding on milk can be affected by cavities. Teeth cavities are caused by the bacteria that flourish in the plaque in our mouth. Thus, it is important to keep the mouth absolutely clean in order to prevent cavities. Make sure you do not skip your regular appointments with the dentist.

The toothache is also a dental problem but it is more an indication of a bigger problem. It is important not to take a case of toothache lightly. If toothache persists for more than two days, visit your dentist at once.

Gingivitis and periodontitis – the two deadly gum diseases – originate from the plaque present in the mouth. An inflammation and tenderness of the gums indicate a gum disease. It is advisable to control the gum disease when it is still at the gingivitis stage. Visit your dentist if you notice symptoms of a gum disease.

There is another dental problem which is not obvious when it begins. I am referring to teeth erosion. Caused by acids produced by the foods we consume, teeth erosion refers to the washing away of the enamel of our teeth. Avoid excessive intake of acidic foods and keep away from beverages like carbonated drinks. It is important that the mouth is thoroughly rinsed after consuming any kind of acidic food. Also, it is important not to brush immediately after a meal but to wait at least an hour before picking up the toothbrush.

If you do have any of the afore-mentioned problems, discuss it with your dentist. Get it treated before it takes a monstrous avatar.

Now, let me take you through the drugs in your medical cabinet that causes problems. If you are taking a sweet, liquid medicine, you are making your teeth prone to decay. Ideally, you should brush the teeth and rinse the mouth well after taking such medicines.

If you are taking oral contraceptive pills, you may become prone to gum diseases. Not all such pills trigger gum problems though.

If you have been taking any medicine for asthma, there are chances your teeth are being eroded.

Now some drugs cause dry mouth. Dry mouth is dangerous for the teeth as it lets bacteria breed in the mouth and causes cavities.

Don’t change the prescribed medication on your own. It is important you inform your dentist of all the medicines you take. If there is a medicine causing a dental health concern, ask your doctor to suggest an alternative. And take extra care of your oral health to compensate for the problems the medicines are causing.

But you know, there was a clause in these research reports that we conveniently ignored. The clause was “in moderation”. Yes, the sinful chocolate is good for us only if taken in moderation. Anything, even vitamins, if taken more than needed can cause problems. So, people, celebrate the news of chocolate being good for you with a bite of a chocolate. And yeah, don’t forget to clean your mouth after that. Yes, that’s the only advice in terms of dental care.

You should enjoy the chocolate but don’t let bacteria feed on the bits and pieces left in your mouth. They love it too, but that doesn’t mean you should throw them a party. Don’t linger on the aftertaste; you can always get some more chocolate later. Just rinse your mouth thoroughly after you have eaten chocolate or had a chocolate drink. And if you have been too liberal with the amount of chocolate you have indulged in then brush your mouth clean after an hour.

The only way you can keep enjoying chocolate throughout your life is by taking proper care of your teeth. So, what are you waiting for? Bite into your favorite bar right away!