Dentist Newington CT discusses tips on Flossing & tongue scraping

Extensive research has found out that flossing is the number one activity you can perform to prevent bad breath.

Keep the following things in mind:

Maintain a Clean Tongue

• Cleaning your tongue before & after meals with a tongue scraper can be very helpful (whether cleaning before or after is most effective depends on the meal).
• Cleaning before meals will reduce the number of bacteria present on the tongue that process foods into volatile sulfur compounds, and cleaning after can help clean out all the nooks and crannies for any odorous compounds that may have collected.

Maintain Good Salivary Flow

• Saliva helps keep bacteria and their byproducts in check, and adequate salivary flow throughout the day will do a lot to help limit bad breath.
• Chewing sugarless gum can increase salivary flow by 10x normal, and is a great way to stimulate salivary flow.
• Xylitol mints will also help stimulate salivary flow.
• Also staying well hydrated throughout the day is a good way of keeping things from getting stagnant in your mouth

Modify Your Diet

• Obviously avoid foods that will cause bad breath… like garlic!
• Cinnamon has been shown to fight bad breath (some people are allergic and can get an oral rash so be careful)
• Yogurts are helpful in reducing the production of hydrogen sulfide. Other dairy products like milk and cheese can do this as well, but I find they will produce bad breath later for other reasons.

 Wondering what is the best way to floss your teeth? Make sure you do it the correct way… or you might end up hurting your gums.

 From the American Dental Association:

• Use about 18 inches of floss wrapped around one of your middle fingers, with the rest wound around the opposite middle finger.
• Hold the floss tightly between the thumbs and forefingers and gently insert it between the teeth.
  Curve the floss into a “C” shape against the side of the tooth.
• Rub the floss gently up and down, keeping it pressed against the tooth. Don’t jerk or snap the floss.
• Floss all your teeth. Don’t forget to floss behind your back teeth.

 And my personal “Do’s of Flossing”

• Ensure that you floss systematically. This will guarantee that you will not miss a single tooth. Always begin in one position and proceed to the next tooth and so on and so forth.
• Just because the front set of teeth need less maneuvering as compared to the ones located at the very back, doesn’t mean you ignore the back benchers! Do floss all your teeth diligently.
• Do use a good length (recommended 18 inches) of dental floss to gently wipe down the side of your teeth. Do not try to floss in a hurry and in the process saw your gums and hurt yourself.
• Remove the used bit of floss and wrap on to a fresh piece of floss to continue working your way around the mouth. If you keep flossing with the same length of floss, you’re only putting the rubbish straight back from in-between one set of teeth to the next set)
• Do floss once before going to sleep so that you can rest assure knowing you have no annoying food and plaque in-between your teeth. Saliva, (our natural protection) dries up when we go to sleep. So if there happens to be any sugar, plaque and food stuck in-between our teeth then it is much more damaging during this time.

Don’t saw into your gums, you will only hurt/cut them in the process.

Use your eighteen inches floss to gently wipe down the side of the teeth either side.

Be extra careful, if you are too violent when you floss and saw into your gums, you will cause soreness and more bleeding.

To get more information contact Green Meadow Dental, 3579B Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT 06111,  or call: (860)-865-0056.Families from Newington, Berlin, Meriden find the easy drive to Newington well worthwhile because or our expertise and modern facilities, our friendly dental team and the relaxing disposition of Dr. Mukund. We also service patients from areas including Hartford, Rocky Hill, Weathersfield and Cromwell.