What does this mean? We’ll, thanks to Carolyn I know that it means to attend to it with keen perception and understanding.
She was kind enough to share the word with me as she was complimenting me on my focus during her exams. I can’t think of a nicer compliment, that and her continued relationship with us for over 25 years!!
OK, back to dentistry…
More important than coming in here for a thorough cleaning and exam a couple times a year is what you can do for yourself a couple of times a day with your home care.
Let’s start with flossing:
The first thing is to take a big enough of a piece, at least a foot, and wrapping it around you middle fingers leaving your index fingers and thumb free to manipulate it.
When you snap the floss between two teeth you should push the floss around one tooth and go up and down the tooth a couple times scraping off anything that might be sticking to it. Then you wrap the floss around the other tooth by pulling in the opposite direction, again scraping that side of that tooth while going up and down. You want the floss to contact as much of the tooth as possible.
The other benefit of doing it this way is that you will be able to sneak under the gums farther without traumatizing the gums.
Alrighty, then. Onto brushing!!!
You need to keep in mind what you are trying to accomplish when you brush.
Imagine if you ate 5 Oreos and then looked in your mouth 3 minutes later.
You wouldn’t find any black cookie bits on the flat surfaces of any of the teeth, they all be at the gum line and between the teeth. That’s because your lips, cheeks and tongue polish those surfaces constantly.
So you ONLY need to focus between the teeth and between the teeth and the gums!!
Somehow they don’t teach this to anyone in Hollywood, because every actor I see on TV and in the movies brushing they find 5 different ways to scrub the front surfaces of their front teeth.
The best way to approach brushing is to start in one corner of the mouth and scrub at the gum line and work your way around to the other corner and then switch to the inside of those teeth and work from one side to the other. Then repeat the same thing on the other jaw.
Most of the cavities that I see in adult patients are between the teeth or at the gum line!!!
Also, scrubbing the gum line will be your best play to avoid gum disease and other periodontitis.
Doesn’t that make sense?
Hopefully I’ve changes your perception and understanding of how to take care of your mouth.
2013 is looking better and better all the time!
If you are in the Bryn Mawr area and want more help with the best way to keep from having any more dental problems call us and set up a time to come in and see us:
610-525-5497
We wish you all the best in the New Year!
