Ask a Health Professional Each week health professionals give their educated opinions on relatable health questions. We believe that knowledge is power! 2012 10th Street 906-352-4100 www.lacannefamilydental.com LaCanne Dr. Tracy La Canne, DDS FANTLENAL Question: What is the best hygiene routine to keep my teeth healthy? Having a good soft much smaller. This forces you to use less bristled toothbrush is key. toothpaste which helps you brush for Anything harder than soft is causing more damage in the back corners of your mouth much than it's helping. You'll see a lot more recession and longer at a time. It also allows you to get casier. When choosing a toothbrush size, I'm under the adage "the smaller the damage to gum tissue by using a firm better!". bristled brush. Save that one for cleaning Daily flossing is also an important step in a healthy mouth routine. Your toothbrush just cannot get into those the toilet! You should be using your toothbrush twice a day for two minutes to clean your tight spaces between the teeth and teeth. Ideally afteryou've hadbreakfast in without flossing you're more prone to the morning and definitely before you lay decay and gum discase. down to sleep. That is the most inmportant time to brush. If you can only find time to brush once per day, make sure it's before you lay down to sleep. While you sleep your salivary production slows down as well as the natural movement of the tongue and cheeks, so the bacteria and food that you've collected throughout the day is having a smorgasbord in your mouth all night. That is where 'morning breath comes from. It's all the acid that routinely seeing a dental professional. the bacteria have produced throughout Even if you're doing all the right the night. If you do a good job cleaning things sometimes a problem can arise. your teeth before bed, you won't have to worry about bad breath in the morning! Personally, I feel an electric brush something is going on, most likely you're tends to work better than a handheld. Jooking at a root canal, a crown, or even The main advantage of most electric brushes is that they have the built-in two-minute timer. Most people think they're brushing for two minutes when problems can be found when they're actually it's only about 45 seconds. The other nice thing about most electric cheaper for that matter!). brushes, is that the toothbrush head is Adding a mouth rinse is a good, but it is not a replacement for good manual cleaning and scrubbing. Just using mouth rinse is similar to only running your hands under water to clean them. You need to scrub your hands to actually remove all the dirt and bacteria, and it's the same in your mouth. The final picce of the puzzle is Unfortunately, it's rare for a tooth/ gum concern to hurt until it's a very BIG problem. Once you're aware that removal of the tooth. When a dentist can check your teeth regularly, most small and fixed much easier (and much Ask a Health Professional Each week health professionals give their educated opinions on relatable health questions. We believe that knowledge is power! 2012 10th Street 906-352-4100 www.lacannefamilydental.com LaCanne Dr. Tracy La Canne, DDS FANTLENAL Question: What is the best hygiene routine to keep my teeth healthy? Having a good soft much smaller. This forces you to use less bristled toothbrush is key. toothpaste which helps you brush for Anything harder than soft is causing more damage in the back corners of your mouth much than it's helping. You'll see a lot more recession and longer at a time. It also allows you to get casier. When choosing a toothbrush size, I'm under the adage "the smaller the damage to gum tissue by using a firm better!". bristled brush. Save that one for cleaning Daily flossing is also an important step in a healthy mouth routine. Your toothbrush just cannot get into those the toilet! You should be using your toothbrush twice a day for two minutes to clean your tight spaces between the teeth and teeth. Ideally afteryou've hadbreakfast in without flossing you're more prone to the morning and definitely before you lay decay and gum discase. down to sleep. That is the most inmportant time to brush. If you can only find time to brush once per day, make sure it's before you lay down to sleep. While you sleep your salivary production slows down as well as the natural movement of the tongue and cheeks, so the bacteria and food that you've collected throughout the day is having a smorgasbord in your mouth all night. That is where 'morning breath comes from. It's all the acid that routinely seeing a dental professional. the bacteria have produced throughout Even if you're doing all the right the night. If you do a good job cleaning things sometimes a problem can arise. your teeth before bed, you won't have to worry about bad breath in the morning! Personally, I feel an electric brush something is going on, most likely you're tends to work better than a handheld. Jooking at a root canal, a crown, or even The main advantage of most electric brushes is that they have the built-in two-minute timer. Most people think they're brushing for two minutes when problems can be found when they're actually it's only about 45 seconds. The other nice thing about most electric cheaper for that matter!). brushes, is that the toothbrush head is Adding a mouth rinse is a good, but it is not a replacement for good manual cleaning and scrubbing. Just using mouth rinse is similar to only running your hands under water to clean them. You need to scrub your hands to actually remove all the dirt and bacteria, and it's the same in your mouth. The final picce of the puzzle is Unfortunately, it's rare for a tooth/ gum concern to hurt until it's a very BIG problem. Once you're aware that removal of the tooth. When a dentist can check your teeth regularly, most small and fixed much easier (and much