Keep Your Smile Healthy

Don’t take for granted that just because your smile looks healthy that it is healthy. It takes practicing great habits every day to keep your smile in tip-top-shape and great oral habits on a regular basis can ensure your smile lasts a lifetime. Follow these 7 steps to ensure your smile is beautiful every day. 

1.     Brush and floss regularly. No need to skip this valuable step in the morning or at night. It takes less than 5 minutes to keep your smile healthy. 

2.     Eat healthy fruits and vegetables.  The extra water in fruits and vegetables can rinse sticky foods from your teeth to decrease the plaque that sticks on the surface of your teeth when you consume food high in carbohydrates and sugar. 

3.     Don’t skip your dental visits. We know how busy you are. Keeping your routine dental visits can save you time later on. Problems that result in not brushing and flossing can lead to periodontal problems, expensive crowns, root canals or other major dental procedures to get your smile back in line. 

4.     Drink water. This is so important for your smile and your body. By consuming water, you keep your mouth from drying out. Dry mouth increases the number of bacteria that is already in your mouth, giving them opportunities to attack your enamel. 

For more information on how to improve and keep your smile healthy, contact Dr. Lee & her team.

Oral Habits are Bad for your Dental Health

You brush your teeth twice per day, floss and rinse with mouthwash daily. You visit your CosmeticDentist twice a year for checkups and cleanings. You are a good dental patient!   Are you aware that some daily habits you have may cause negative effects on your dental health?   

Here is a list of habits that are bad for your teeth

1.    Using your Teeth as Tools-traumatize teeth and may cause the edge of a weakened tooth to chip off or even fracture.

·      some people use their teeth to tear open bags (plastic bags, bags of potato chips)

·      open a bottle of beer

·      straighten a bent fork tine

·      rip a price tag off a piece of clothing

2.    Brushing too hard-this habit can cause enamel erosion.  The American Dental Association 

        suggests brushing your teeth gently and in wide strokes to clean your teeth – no need to scrub. 

·      Another time to go easy on your teeth is after eating acidic foods.  While your first good oral hygiene instinct might be to brush away the acid, the Mayo Clinic warns tooth brushing right after eating acidic foods can cause enamel damage. The recommendation is to wait at least 30 minutes before brushing.  Drink water or chew a piece of sugar-free gum after eating acidic foods.  It stimulates saliva flow to wash away excess acid without hurting the teeth.

3.    Chewing ice-one of the biggest causes of cracked and chipped teeth.  The hardness and cold temperature of ice can cause teeth to fracture or can create microscopic cracks that leads to serious dental problems. 

4.    Grinding your teeth-teeth grinding can cause chipping or cracking of your teeth.  Teeth grinding can occur during the day or at night (sleeping).  Causes of teeth grinding may include stress, anxiety, abnormal bite, missing or crooked teeth.

·      wear down enamel over time

·      cause temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) problems

·      damage existing dental work in the mouth

·      chipping and fracturing of your teeth

Your Cosmetic Dentist may recommend wearing a mouth guard for your teeth grinding at night. For more information on how to protect your teeth, contact Dr. Anna Lee and her team. 

Drinking too much soda

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          Both diet and regular sodas contain phosphoric acid, which can erode teeth over a period of time.

·      The Mississippi State Department of Health measures the acidity in different drinks. The result was that both regular and diet cola were more than half as acidic as battery acid. Drinking too many sodas can damage your tooth enamel.

·      Recommendation:  drink water, acidity level is zero

Everyone has bad habits and some are worse than others when it comes to oral hygiene. Dr. Anna Lee is a Cosmetic Dentist and she can help you to improve your oral hygiene and dental health.   

Dr. Anna Lee can be reached at drannalee1@gmail.com or call the office at 626-335-5114.