Dental Hygiene and Teeth Cleaning

Springfield, Holyoke, Longmeadow, and Wilbraham, MA Dentist

A beautiful, healthy smile can do wonders for your self-esteem and confidence. The ability to flash your teeth without embarrassment or worry is a liberating thing and the single best thing you can do to keep your pearly whites in great shape is to practice good dental hygiene. At Baystate Dental our dentists want you to be fully informed about the importance of dental hygiene, regular professional teeth cleanings and the best ways to keep your teeth free from damage.

What Good Dental Hygiene Looks Like

People who practice good dental hygiene typically have:

• Teeth free of food particles
• Healthy gums a good shade of pink that do not bleed
• Fresh breath

Bacteria are everywhere in this world and are always in the mouth. The goal of dental hygiene is to keep their numbers at a minimum and to prevent their acidic excretions from making holes in tooth enamel and infecting the gums.

Plaque is the name for bacteria and their acidic excretions. It is rough and sticky and unless you brush and floss it off frequently, it will build up, harden, and turn into tartar (also called calculus). Now it cannot be removed by brushing or flossing. A visit to a dental hygienist is necessary to get it off with special implements.

You can keep plaque at a minimum if you:

• Brush your teeth twice a day
• Floss your teeth once a day
• Visit a dentist twice a year for professional teeth cleanings and dental check-ups

Dental problems that are caught in their early stages are much easier to correct and will be less painful to your mouth and your wallet.

Effective Ways to Brush and Floss

You may be brushing and flossing ineffectively. Make sure you are using a soft-bristled toothbrush and toothpaste that does NOT say “whitening” on the box. With the current popularity of teeth whitening, it may take you a few minutes to find that, but there are a few brands.

Toothpaste that claims to be “whitening” contains abrasive ingredients that gradually remove your tooth enamel as well as whatever is on it. That will give you more yellow teeth in the long run, as the yellow dentin layer shows through the enamel more. An example is alumina (aluminum oxide), which is used in sandpaper. We use it in air abrasion – an alternative to the dental drill – for removing decayed tooth tissue.

To brush your teeth effectively:

• Brush for at least two minutes
• Focus on two or three teeth at a time
• Position the toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to the gumline
• Gently move it at this angle, sweeping away from the gumline
• Brush the backs of the teeth with vertical strokes
• Brush your tongue to remove bad-breath-causing bacteria

To floss your teeth effectively:

• Wind 12-18 inches of floss around one finger on each hand, leaving a 2 inch area between the fingers to get between teeth
• Gently see-saw the floss between each set of teeth, curling the floss around the tooth on one side and then around the tooth on the other side
• Floss the exposed side of your last back teeth in each quadrant

Importance of Early Detection of Dental Problems

As we all know, prevention is always better than a cure, and dentistry is no exception. If you visit us regularly, our outstanding team of dentists can identify and treat tooth problems early. You then need less dental work, and any fillings you do need are smaller and quicker to complete.

We will also give you an oral cancer screening.

Please contact the dentistry team at Baystate Dental in East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Wilbraham, West Springfield or Springfield, Massachusetts today to start (or continue) on your road to excellent dental health.