Top 5 Dental Bad Habits

| October 15, 2008

Ok… we try to remain positive in this Blog but today we are going to talk about some dental bad habits that you really need to try and stop doing.

  1. Sipping on a sugary beverage all day long.  Don’t sip on pop all day (yes Mountain Dew lovers we are talking to you) It will destroy your teeth.  You are feeding the bacteria in your mouth a constant diet of sugar.  This converts to acid and destroys your teeth.
  2. Skip Flossing.  You’ve heard it before… and I’m saying it again.  If you brush your teeth faithfully but skip the flossing you’ve cleaned only 1/2 of each tooth.  The space between your teeth is the most decay prone part of the tooth.  If you don’t floss, you aren’t cleaning it.  Make flossing a part of your routine and you will be amazed at how much better your teeth feel.  Flossing also helps keep your breath fresh.  Floss your teeth… smooch more!
  3. Eating Sugary Food just before bed.   If you are a diligent, efficient brusher and flosser and you’ve removed all the plaque from your teeth before “lights out” then this is a minimal bad habit.  But… it might be easiest just to skip the sweet tooth right before bed.
  4. Taking care of only your visible teeth.  As the saying goes “You don’t have to brush all your teeth…. just the ones you want to keep!”  That goes for flossing too.
  5. Ignoring Dental Problems.  The persistent tooth pain or throb, bleeding gums, pain on one side of your mouth so you chew on the other.  This stuff is NOT temporary and will not go away if you ignore it.  Things that you use, need to be maintained…you use your teeth so make sure you see a dentist 2 times per year and if your tooth hurts… call your dentist!