Proper Oral Hygiene

Proper oral hygiene is of the utmost importance, even more so in those with periodontal disease. Effective brushing and flossing are essential to keeping your gums and teeth healthy. You may only get to see your dentist or periodontist a few times a year, but it is the regular cleaning that you do yourself everyday at home that will help keep your gums and teeth healthy for years to come. Brushing and flossing alone may not be enough for some people, particularly if you have periodontal disease, spaces between your teeth, or if you have bridges. Ask your periodontist or dentist what is best for you.

Brushing

It is important to brush every day, at least twice a day. Make sure you are using a soft tooth brush. Using anything harder, or using too much force can actually damage your teeth and gums. Effective brushing should take only a few minutes and should not be painful.

1. Position the bristles at a 45 degree angle to the base of the teeth, where the teeth and gums meet. This ensures that gumline around teeth will be effectively cleaned. Periodontal disease starts when bacteria invade the gumline, so cleaning this area is very important.
2. Gently move the toothbrush with short back-and-forth strokes and, or in a circular motion covering only a few teeth at a time.
3. Make sure you brush every surface of every tooth; the outside, the inside, the chewing surfaces and even the back surfaces of the last teeth.
4. You may need to change the angle of the toothbrush, but always try and keep the bristles angled towards the gumline. As you move towards the inside of the front teeth you may need to use more of the tip of toothbrush.
5. Gently brush your tongue to help freshen breath and eliminate even more bacteria.

Flossing

Flossing is equally as important as brushing. If you brush your teeth and do not floss, you are only cleaning half the surfaces of your teeth. It is like taking a shower and not cleaning under your armpits…you have to clean all sides of all your teeth just like the rest of your body. You should floss at least once a day. If your gums are healthy there should be virtually no bleeding while flossing. If you do have bleeding then it may be a sign that you have gum disease.

1. Start with a nice long piece of dental floss, about 12 inches. There is no right or wrong way to hold floss so do whatever works best for you. Most people prefer to wrap the floss around their middle fingers and pull it taut with their index fingers. You can also buy special floss holders that work too.
2. Gently guide the floss back and forth until it reaches the area below where your teeth contact.
3. Wrap the floss around the front tooth creating a “C” and gently move the floss up and down the tooth. Remember the idea of floss is to clean the surfaces of the teeth, so do not just saw the floss back and forth, really try and work it up and down the surface of the tooth. However, you should not press the floss so far down that you injure your gums.
4. Now you have cleaned one side, but you must go back in the same space and clean the other side of the back tooth. Start with a fresh piece of floss if necessary, but now wrap the floss around the back tooth and repeat the process. Remember, for every space there are 2 different tooth surfaces that should be cleaned.
5. Repeat the process until you flossed the front and back surface of every tooth.