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| Periodontal Disease Prevention | Maintaining your teeth and gums healthy requires just a few basic steps. By brushing and flossing on a daily basis will certainly help you to prevent tooth decay and get rid of plaque from your teeth and gums. You should visit your dentist for a professional cleaning at least twice a year to eliminate tartar from places brushing and flossing may miss. Besides, don’t forget to eat healthy foods, drink lots of water and cut down sweets. And the last but not least, if you smoke, quit.
Daily Care
Tips for Effective Brushing
 Brush your teeth twice a day – after eating and before going to bed ideal.
Use a soft-bristled brush that is right for your mouth.
It’s better to use toothpaste with fluoride to provide a protection for your teeth from decay.
Put the brush where the gum meets the tooth, with the bristles at a 45-degree angle to your teeth so that they occur under the gum line.
Move the brush back and forth in short (tooth-wide) strokes. Be gentle; brushing vigorously can actually injure the gums and make them more susceptible to periodontal disease.
Brush both the inner and outer surfaces of the teeth and brush the broad chewing surfaces with the entire brush.
In order to clean the inner surfaces of the front teeth, use the tip of the brush in gentle up-and-down strokes.
Brushing should take at least two minutes.
Scrub your tongue for about 30 seconds to get rid of even more bacteria.
If you dry brush first, follow the same brushing procedure for about a minute and a half without paste, then brush again for another two minutes.
Rinse the toothbrush thoroughly.
Change you brush every three months or so, or when the bristles are bent or frayed, or after a cold or illness.
If you notice that you regularly bleed after brushing your teeth, get a softer toothbrush. Try to brush less vigorously and visit your dentist. Bleeding may be because of a diversity of reasons – some as simple as brushing too hard – but other causes could be more serious.
Tips for Effective Flossing
 Break away about 18 inches of floss and wind most of it around the middle finger of one hand and the rest around the other middle finger.
Keeping the floss between your thumbs and forefingers, lead it between two teeth by softly rubbing it back and forth.
When the floss touches the gum line, bend it around one of the teeth and softly slide it back and forth in the gap between the tooth and the gum.
Keeping the floss firmly against the side of the tooth, rub gently up and down.
Do the same for each tooth, involving the backside of your last teeth, altering to a different part of the floss as you go along.
If your floss routinely breaks, consider switching to dental tape.
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