With proper care, your teeth and gums can stay healthy throughout your life. The healthier your teeth and gums are, the less risk you have for tooth decay and gums disease.


There are five basic steps to caring for teeth and gums:
1. Brushing
2. Flossing
3. Eating right
4. Visiting the dentist
5. Rinsing

Tips for Brushing Teeth
Brush at least twice a day. If you can, brush after every meal. Brushing removes plaqueilm of bacteria that clings to teeth. When bacteria in plaque come into contact with food, they produce acids. These acids lead to cavities. To brush:
•Place a pea-sized dab of fluoride toothpaste on the head of the toothbrush. (Use a soft toothbrush.)
•Place the toothbrush against the teeth at a 45-degree angle to the gum line.
•Move the brush across the teeth using a small circular motion. Continue with this motion cleaning one tooth at a time. Keep the tips of the bristles against the gum line. Avoid pressing so hard that the bristles lie flat against the teeth. (Only the tips of the toothbrush clean the teeth.) Let the bristles reach into spaces between teeth.
•Brush across the top of the chewing surfaces of the teeth. Make sure the bristles get into the groves and crevices.
•Use the same small circular motion to clean the backside of the upper and lower teeth -- the side that faces the tongue.
•To clean the inside of the bottom front teeth, angle the head in an up-and-down position toward the bottom inside of the mouth and move the toothbrush in a small circle.
•For the inside of the top front teeth, angle the brush in an up-and-down position with the tip of the head pointing towards the roof of the mouth. Move the toothbrush in a small circle.
•Give your tongue a few gentle brush strokes, brushing from the back of your tongue forward. Do not scrub. This helps remove bacteria and freshens your breath.
•After brushing your teeth for two to three minutes, rinse your mouth with water.
•Replace your toothbrush with a new one every three to four months.
Tips for Flossing Your Teeth
Floss teeth once a day. Flossing gets rid of food and plaque between the teeth, where your toothbrush cannot reach. If plaque stays between teeth, it can harden into tartar, which must be removed by a dentist. To floss:
•Remove about an 18-inch strip of floss from the dispenser.
•Wind the floss around the middle fingers of each hand, leaving a 1-inch section open for flossing. Floss the top teeth first, then the bottom.
•Place the floss in your mouth and use your index fingers to push the floss between the teeth. Be careful not to push too hard and injure the gums.
•Move the floss up and down against the tooth and up and around the gum line. The floss should form a C-shape around the tooth as you floss.
•Floss between each tooth as well as behind the back teeth.
•Use a clean section of floss as needed and take up used floss by winding it around the fingers.

This is Dr. Marry Ziomek of Rockville Cosmetic Dentistry and I'm a new member here. This Forum site looks great. I'm looking forward to establish a good relationship with you and have a sharing of knowledge especially about on how to take good care of your smile. Hope you have lots of things learned from my first post.

Hello doctor and thanks so much for joining us here, welcome to the forum! Your post is a great guide to us all. I imagine that at one time we knew all this but we get into lazy habits so I for one am very grateful for the reminder of how to do things properly and how to take care of our teeth. I have suffered from peridontitis although I think that now after about 7 extractions the rest of the teeth are OK.

Really interesting post. I fall into the lazy faction. I sometimes use an electric toothbrush, but it depends on the time I have, so usually have a quick scrub in the morning, with a more relaxed brush before bed. I have one or two problems with my teeth, but have a bit of a phobia about visiting the dentist unless I am in pain. So at the moment I will carry on. Is chewing gum helpful?

Thanks for your response feedback and warmth welcome!

To Paddy- if you are interested to know if chewing gum is helpful for your dental health, I would say that it depends upon the kind of chewing gum.

Sugary chewing gum creates Plaque as with any food that contains sugar, affects dental health adversely. Sugar is a primary component of plaque, the nasty build-up that can create cavities and cause gum disease. If you are chewing gum that is made with sugar, you're simply compounding any dental health problems you may already have. Brush your teeth as soon as you can.

Sugar-Free Gum Removes Food Particles

Sugar-free gum can be helpful in dental health. The surface of the gum can actually help to remove trapped food particles from between the teeth and can also help remove built-up sugar from the teeth.

Sugar-Free Gum Prevents Plaque Build Up

Because sugar-free gum helps to remove food particles and sugar from the surface of the teeth, it helps to prevent plaque from forming. Preventing plaque build-up is of huge benefit to general dental health.

Sugar-Free Gum Freshens Breath
Finally, chewing some sort of mint-flavored, sugar-free gum also helps to freshen the breath. Hard mints have the same breath-freshening effect, but they do not help to remove food particles from the teeth.

Hope this is helpful to you.

For your perfect smile,
Dr. Mary Ziomek

That is a great post thanks doctor Mary! I have always chewed gum even although at times I have been castigated for it! Now at least I have a legitimate reason for doing that! I think it really only is a good thing however, if you chew sugar free gum?