New Years Resolutions

Most New Year's resolutions center on improving financial status and health. Taking a step further by making conscious dental decisions for oral care will benefit your overall health and financial condition. First, avoiding dental problems and sustaining your oral hygiene are the best approaches to prevent dental problems. The American Dental Association reveals many benefits of good dental resolutions and habits.

What Do New Year Resolutions Involve?

There is hardly a better moment to make resolutions for a New Year than when the year begins. The best way to adopt changes is to incorporate changes into your daily routine so that they become habits without you realizing them. As long as you form and carry out these routines, the new habits and behaviors can stick around over time until they become a part of your lifestyle.

Just as you can make resolutions for your finances, you can make resolutions for your oral health. Making dental resolutions for the New Year is necessary because oral health has a much greater impact on general health. For instance, research shows numerous chronic medical disorders may be related to poor oral health. You can significantly improve your dental health by improving your oral hygiene practices, eating a balanced diet, and abstaining from risky habits. Keep in mind that establishing new behaviors requires being consistent.

Some of your New Year dental resolutions may involve:

Working on Your Habits

Small adjustments in your lifestyle can have a significant impact on your oral health. When you become intentional about practicing activities that people find difficult, say cleaning in between the teeth, you'll discover that the dental task becomes enjoyable with practice, and integration into your daily routine becomes easy. You might be surprised to know that as you brush frequently and clean in between your teeth, your gums turn less prone to injuries and bleeding, and you enjoy the special sensation of oral health.

Sustaining good dental hygiene is easier than people thought. In order to maintain good dental hygiene, you should:

  • Rinse using mouthwash or an antiseptic mouth rinse after brushing.
  • To keep your enamel safe from damage, brush your teeth with a toothbrush with soft bristles twice daily.
  • When cleaning the surfaces of your teeth, prevent heavy impact on your gum by using a toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to your gum.
  • Maintain your dental health by using fluoride-containing toothpaste.
  • Once daily, give your teeth a thorough brushing. It's acceptable to use any technique that makes you feel most comfortable, including an interdental brush or a flossing device.
  • After brushing, rinse with an antimicrobial mouth rinse or mouthwash.

Perform your oral hygiene routine twice daily to enjoy better outcomes with your dental health plans and goals. In addition to performing oral hygiene, there is a need for a total dental routine, which may require following a few other crucial steps, including:

Improving Dietary Decisions

The food you eat is one of the most vital factors influencing oral health. If you consume very sugary food without rinsing the mouth, the food can attract oral bacteria to the mouth and cause gum disease and cavities. In improving your dietary decision, you should take the following steps:

  • Reduce your rate of eating sugary meals or meals with high acid levels.
  • Cut back on your rate of taking snacks between meals.
  • Rinse your mouth often, particularly after taking a sugary drink or meal.
  • Make a meal plan for vegetables, fruits, and nutrient-rich diets.
  • Seek expert advice from your dentist for more insight into diets that strengthens oral health via high nutrients and vitamin content.

Prevent Dry Mouth

You may not know that your saliva plays a significant role in the sustenance of the health of your gums, mouth, and teeth. Your saliva, that is, your spit washes off dirt, and food particles in your mouth, balances your oral pH, and supplies the necessary minerals to the enamel of your teeth. A dry mouth (xerostomia) can lead to many dental issues. Considering the functions of the saliva, maintaining a constant flow of saliva becomes crucial for maintaining good oral health.

Take these actions to lessen dry mouth:

  • Chew gum without sugar to increase the production of saliva.
  • Drinking excessive alcohol or using illicit substances to treat dry mouth should be avoided; instead, take milk or other dairy products to enhance saliva production.
  • Find out from your doctor or dentist if any over the counter or prescription drugs you're taking may be linked to a reduction in saliva production.
  • Particularly before you go to bed, increase the hydration of your mouth by taking water.

Stop Smoking Tobacco

There is no getting past the fact that using tobacco products, including smoking harms your general and oral health. For example, smoking can discolor your teeth and raise your chance of developing dental issues. Although nicotine is addictive, experts have received specialized training to make this task as simple as possible. You have the power to decide whether this will be the year you finally give up smoking. For advice from a qualified practitioner, please speak with our Clarkston dentist.

Regular Dental Checkups

On average, you should see your dentist at least once every six months, that is, twice a year. The importance of visiting the dentist twice a year is that with this frequency, there would be early detection of dental diseases. Detecting dental diseases in time is the most potent means of preventing and stopping the development of a dental illness into a more serious disease state. Additionally, steps like budgeting for routine dental appointments and keeping money aside for any unplanned dental treatments or injuries are useful. Furthermore, budgeting for regular checkups and maintaining a maintenance fee beforehand will help avoid problems that could be more expensive in the future.

We Can Help You

Despite the lack of commitment from some people who set health plans at the beginning of the year, New Year's resolutions remain effective and are the way to go for drastic health improvement. With this newfound information on setting New Year's resolutions, you are prepared to face many of the biggest barriers to optimal dental health. If you have failed in your previous health goals, now is the time to let go of the past in making a New Year dental resolve. Contact our Clarkston dentist to give expert advice as you scheme out your New Year dental resolutions.

Finally, regardless of your dental issues, be it a misaligned bite, a cavity, or a chipped tooth, now is the best time to take care of these concerns. Our dentist in Lewiston will suggest the best solution to address the root of your dental concern, avert other issues, and enhance the aesthetics of your smile. Contact us today!