Tag Archives: International District Dentist

Fluoride is an important part of your oral health. This is the substance that is used to rebuild your dental enamel, repairing the damage done to them every day. Unfortunately, high degrees of fluoride are not good for young children, potentially causing learning and memory problems if they are exposed to too much during their early development. It is for this reason that you will want to select your child’s toothpaste carefully.

If your child is under three years old, look for a toothpaste that has about 1,000 ppm (parts per million) of fluoride. Apply a light smear of the paste to less than three quarters of a brush before cleaning their teeth. Children between the ages of three and six years old can benefit from a pea-sized drop of toothpaste of between 1,350-1,500 ppm. Emphasize that they should not swallow their toothpaste, as their young instincts will want to treat the minty-tasting substance like candy.

Bring your child to our International District dentist to learn more about how to keep his or her teeth healthy.

You might have heard your dentist discussing the plaque and tartar on your teeth. Though these two are closely related, there is an important difference between them.

Plaque is the name applied to the film of bacteria that grows on every surface in your mouth. This bacteria is responsible for tooth decay and gum disease. Fortunately, removing plaque is a simple matter of brushing your teeth.

Tartar, or calculus, is what plaque turns into if it is allowed to remain on your teeth for too long. The plaque has hardened into a resilient shell on your tooth. When a tooth ceases to feel smooth to the touch and begins to take on a rough texture, you probably have tartar. Tartar can no longer be removed through conventional brushing, and needs to be removed by your dentist in a process called scaling. When you begin to develop tartar, visit our International District dentist to restore your pearly-whites to their former glory.

The most basic skill you can learn for the sake of your oral health is properly brushing your teeth. As simple as it may seem, it takes more to keep your mouth clean than to rub a little toothpaste over your teeth for a couple minutes. Consider the following brushing tips to see what you might be doing wrong with your own routine:

• Brush at least twice a day, two minutes at a time. It’s best to do this after you wake up and before you go to sleep at night.
• Don’t brush for at least twenty minutes after you eat! The bacteria in your mouth is feeding off of your food and producing acid, which weakens your enamel. You want to let your teeth recover before brushing, or else you can strip this enamel away.
• Moisten your toothbrush and apply a thin layer of toothpaste.
• Hold your brush at a forty-five degree angle with your teeth, brushing in a circular motion instead of a sawing motion. When you brush behind your front teeth, try holding the brush vertically and pulling down against the tooth surface.
• Be gentle! Remember, if you’re brushing with a proper circular motion, you’re massaging your delicate gums as you go. Brushing too hard can erode your gums and leave you vulnerable to decay.

If you require any additional help with your brushing, contact our International District dentist.

No matter how good your brushing habits may be, you can’t taking proper care of your teeth if you aren’t taking proper care of your brush. A bad or faulty brush can do a lot more harm than good, so consider the following advice on how to make sure that you’re always sticking a clean and functional brush in your mouth.

First of all, remember to change your brush regularly. The common wisdom is to get a new brush at least every three months. If you see noticeable wear on the bristles, like if they begin to splay out at odd angles, you may need to change it earlier. You should also replace your brush more frequently if you suffer from gum disease, or a similar condition that may cause your brush to become infected with germs.

When you store your brush, stand it upright in a glass or similar vessel so that it can air dry between uses. Make sure that it doesn’t touch the head of any other brush. You might consider periodically dipping your bristles in hot water or an antibacterial mouthwash to clean it, but don’t try to microwave it or put it in your dishwasher. For more advice on toothbrushes, consult Sixth Avenue’s International District dentist.

Do you have a preferred mouthwash? Regularly rinsing with a proper dose of Listerine, Crest Pro-Health, or some other antiseptic wash is a good way to get better visits at our International District dentistry clinic. The bad news is that, if you favor one and only one kind of rinse, you might not be getting the full effect after a while.

This is according to the findings of a study conducted by Clinical Research Associates. Researchers found that the bacteria inside your mouth will gradually develop a resistance to a mouthwash. You can avoid this by switching to an alternate mouthwash every two or three months. Identify a second product that makes use of a different active ingredient than your primary rinse, and rotate periodically.