We hear a lot of patients are not following with their 6 months recall visits or with 3 months periodontal maintenance visits to their dentists or periodontists. This is happening a lot today considering the economic and job market situation. Some people lost their job and with the job they lost their dental insurance or they they got a cut in income. Because of that people put dental services on the “back burner.” It always seems that other expenses are more important, which I can see why.
My advice is : do not forget that if you are in a 6 months recall or a 3 months recall schedule, you are in the best place you can be as long as you follow up with it. This is because if you are on any of those schedules, you had all the needed dentistry finished, it just needs to be maintained like anything else. Imagine you had a problem with your car. You got it fixed, but you do not go for an oil change or you do not change your tires when needed. Chances are high that the car is going to break down again.
It is the same with your teeth and gums. The mouth is the first entry into the body. Think about all the functions the mouth has: we speak, eat, drink, breath and also it is part of our appearance. It can be warm or cold, wet or dry, still or moving, etc… It is really an amazing machine. And like any machine, it needs to be maintained.
How do you maintain it?
It is very easy as long as you do it right and it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes every day at home and one hour yearly at the dentist. By just doing proper homecare and and spending less then $200/year at the dentist, you save thousands. And a lot of thousands of dollars. People spend way more than that to maintain their bodies. For ex. around $1000 year for a gym membership, $500/year cosmetics, etc… Last year I spent around $240 on just changing the oil for my car. More than a healthcare service. In other words it is really not expensive to maintain your mouth. It becomes expensive when home care is not appropriate or when the visits to the dentist or periodontist are skipped.
Homecare: Flossing followed by brushing after breakfast and after dinner. If you find yourself not being efficient or comfortable flossing ask your dentist ot hygienist to teach you. They are going to be happy to do it. You can use any type of floss from Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, Oral B to house brands like CVS, Rite Aid, Shop Rite. As long as you do it, any brand is good. Brushing using a brush not older than 3 months. Use a good brand like Philips Sonicare (the most recommended), Oral B, Colgate,Crest. Toothpaste should be also a good brand like Crest, Fluoridex, Aquafresh and Colgate. If you ever had dental office whitening like Zoom(www.discusdental.com) or Opalescence, you should continue to use whitening paste like Crest, BreathRX(www.discusdental.com) or Aquafresh.
If have many fillings in your mouth you should use Fluoridex from Discus Dental as a toothpaste and you should rinse at night with ACT before you go to bed for one minute. ACT(www.actfluoride.com) is a fluoridated mouth rinse very effective in prevention of new cavities.
If you are concerned about the bed breath, you should use Breath RX Complex manufactured by Discus Dental. The complex contains toothpaste, antibacterial mouth rinse and tongue spray. They all contain Zytex, a very strong antibacterial agent.
If you need to know more about how to keep your gum healthy visit our page Gum Disease Treatment
Also you can read the following article on Bad Breath(Halitosis) and Gum Disease(Periodontitis) on ADA‘s website.
Please call Dr. Pastiu, dentist in Washington Township/Turnersville , NJ for a consultation at 856-582-2220.