Adulting 101: Hygiene Habits
Posted: 22 Mar 2020, 18:59
WASH YOUR HANDS YOU DETTY PIG
Fact: Most of us are adults.
Fact: Adulting can be hard.
Fact: Some of us welcome a little help with said adulting.
So if you actually want some advice here -
Maybe most of us know the basics, but chances are, there are some gaps present that we weren’t warned about. Raise your hand if your parents never taught you about lotion.
Oral Health
This is easily the subject I took to the quickest, with good reason. Let’s face it- whatever you believe or don’t believe in, we humans got the short end of the stick when it came to the design and efficiency of our dentition. Sharks get to enjoy multiple rows of teeth in case they break or they lose them otherwise. We get one set of primary teeth which eventually fall out when we reach a certain age, and after that, we have one shot. Our adult dentition fully erupts, usually by the time we hit puberty, and that’s all we get. Break a tooth? Bummer, it’s gone forever. A dentist can give you a list of options moving forward (bridge, implant, crown, extraction) but that tooth isn’t growing back no matter how nicely you ask the tooth fairy.
The importance of proper oral hygiene is easily highlighted when you consider that once a problem has gone too far, the slope is extremely slippery and in many cases, there is little recovery that can be made, if at all. Tooth decay is a critical (and expensive,) situation you want to avoid at all costs, and many seem not to pay it the attention it deserves. People can sometimes forget (or perhaps not even be aware,) the fact that your teeth are connected to your bloodstream- and as you may know, once something is in your blood, it’s there. Bacteria in your teeth can infect your blood and lead to very serious complications including and not limited to high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack. Got your attention? Good. Oral health is important, do not neglect it.
• Twice A Day: You should make a point to not only brush those pearly whites twice daily (for at least two minutes,) but to floss them as well. Flossing is an important step you should not miss because a toothbrush can’t necessarily get in between your teeth where most of the food residue sits. And you should floss before you brush, because…
• Spit, Don’t Rinse: Toothpaste is designed to work in contact with your dentition. Assuming you’re using a toothpaste which contains fluoride (I know what you’re thinking- yes, there exist certain ‘natural’ toothpastes which do not contain fluoride, amazingly,) then you want to allow it as much contact time as possible. This is even more important if you are brushing with soft water or water which does not contain it already. I know it doesn’t taste the best, but don’t rinse your mouth after you brush. Simply spit any excess and allow the fluoride to do its job.
• When You Should Rinse: After a meal, you should wait about an hour before you brush your teeth, as doing so too soon may damage your enamel. Aren’t teeth confusing and wonderful? Instead, you can rinse your mouth with water for now, and if you’re worried about bad breath, chew some sugar-free gum! (More on that below!)
• Commonly Missed Areas: There are three areas most commonly missed by the toothbrush, and it can only do good if you can remember to make contact with them: the back of your tongue, roof of the mouth, and the gingival 1/3rd of each tooth. What’s the gingival 1/3rd, you might be asking? It’s a bit of dental lingo which is referring to the very lowest point of the tooth before its roots, where it erupts from the gingiva (gums). Don’t be afraid to brush up against this part, and you may have to angle the brush down a bit to reach it.
• Water Flosser: I just cannot recommend this enough. While there’s nothing wrong with using a good ol’ string to floss with, a water flosser has benefits you can’t easily dismiss once you know how they operate. One such benefit I make personal use of is the ability it has to get into superbly tough spots it would ordinarily be almost impossible to string floss. Anecdotally, I have a spot in the back of one of my second molars where the gums are raised because the wisdom tooth that was there was growing way too close to it. Because of this, the roots are exposed, unfortunately, so I have to find a way to wiggle out any food that might get trapped in that spot. There are special brushes you can manoeuvre back there, but my water flosser can flush it out with no problem (and painlessly I should add.) You can even mix a little mouthwash in these little miracle tools and floss using that!
• Sugar Frequency: Here’s a commonly misunderstood concept. Sugar creates a risk for your dentition because bacteria eat the sugar, which converts it into lactic acid, which in turn erodes your teeth and creates cavities. But it’s not the amount of sugar consumption which causes problems, it’s the frequency. Say you have a 2-litre bottle of Coke. If you chug it down in under a minute, it won’t be good for your health, but your teeth are only exposed to it for a minute. It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid versus slowly peeling it off. If you have a big cup of pop you’re sipping on throughout the morning at the office, that’s near-constant exposure to sugar and acid to your teeth all morning. Not good!
• And Black Coffee?: Black coffee skips the sugar part and jumps straight to the acidic part! Frequently consuming black coffee all day long can lead to problems as well.
• Let Me Tell You About Xylitol: Chew sugar-free gum all you like, in fact, chew it 3-5 times a day if you prefer! Check the ingredients for your little friend xylitol, a sweetener which has been shown to have health benefits rather than health risks. It doesn’t spike your blood sugar or insulin, so it’s a great choice for diabetics. It feeds the good microbes in your digestive system. And, it turns out to be amazing for your oral health, because it acts as the world’s most enticing mouse trap for bacteria in your mouth.
• Regular Visits: Don’t forget to actually visit the dentist. No matter how well you care for your teeth, you still need a hygienist to perform a routine cleaning for you every six months to help remove any buildup (calculus/tartar, which is essentially hardened plaque,) that might have slipped through the cracks, and even under your gums. The dentist will also perform a routine check of your dentition to determine if there is anything more serious which needs to be addressed. The sooner a problem is identified and treated, the better.