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Add flossing to your daily dental routine to clean those stubborn spots your brush won’t reach and you’ll experience a cleaner, healthier smile. Most people either forget about flossing or consider it a low-priority because they’re unaware of the importance or are unsure how to do it correctly. The truth is, flossing helps clean the gaps between your teeth so that you’re less likely to get gum infections or cavities from bacteria build-up. And as your overall dental health improves, you’ll start saving money while you avoid large dental bills from expensive procedures.

What is Dental Floss?

Dental floss is a tool you should use daily to remove food and bacteria build-up from in-between your teeth. Floss is commonly made out of plastic or nylon; it is a thin thread that you put between your teeth and pull in order to clean the gaps. As you pull on the thread, food and debris should come out of the gaps.

Types of Dental Floss

You’ll have a surprising number of types to choose from when picking out dental floss. You can get most types of floss at your local supermarket or drugstore. Although all use some type of thread or ribbon, there are differences in materials and packaging.

Some floss is made out of dental ribbon rather than out of plastic or nylon string. Ribbon floss is smoother and more comfortable than traditional floss. For example, if your gums ache or bleed when you floss your teeth, you might want to try ribbon floss instead.

There are also automatic flossers that you can try if you have a hard time perfecting your flossing technique or find flossing uncomfortable. Automatic flossers use a nylon filament to floss your teeth for you. When you turn the flosser on and touch it against your teeth, it cleans the gaps between your teeth for you.

Benefits of Using Dental Floss

Brushing alone doesn’t clean your entire mouth; it only cleans the surface of your teeth. You need to floss in order to clean out the gaps between your teeth, where bacteria often reside. If you don’t floss, you’re more likely to have plaque build-up, which can lead to cavities, tooth decay and gum disease. If left untreated, gum disease can be a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes and a high body mass index. In addition, bacteria can cause bad breath and having food or debris between your teeth can make them look less clean or white. Thus, flossing can help improve the appearance of your mouth as well as your dental hygiene and overall health.

How Often Should You Floss?

It’s more important to take your time and floss correctly than it is to floss often. If you floss several times a day but do it quickly, you’ll miss a lot of the bacteria and debris you need to clean out. This defeats the purpose of flossing. It’s far better to floss only once a day and do it slowly so that you clean your entire mouth.

Of course, it’s still important to floss regularly; if you don’t floss at least once a day, you won’t get all the health benefits.

It’s important to become aware of the habits you should be avoiding, if you want to enjoy excellent dental health.

So, here are 5 of the most common mistakes that are damaging people’s dental health:

1) Brushing Too Hard

Most people’s chief aim when brushing is to end up with a nice white set of teeth, and this leads some people to scrub much too hard in an effort to remove stains.

Bushing too hard can damage the enamel coating that surrounds your teeth. With that protective enamel layer weakened, plaque has a free reign to eat into your teeth.

Ironically, brushing too hard actually achieves the opposite effect and gives the teeth a darker shade, since enamel is the whitest part!

Don’t brush your teeth as though you’re scrubbing a red wine stain from a carpet! You don’t need to apply much pressure at all to remove everyday stains.

2) Not Brushing For Long Enough

Your dentist recommends that you brush for a full 2 minutes, yet data collected by Beam Technologies has shown that the average adult spends just 46 seconds brushing their teeth.

That’s a poor effort by anyone’s standards!

Research has shown that you are 50% more likely to brush for long enough if you use a timer.

Crack out your smartphone and fire up the timer app when you brush for an instant boost to your dental health.

3) Uneven Brushing

People tend to begin brushing with enthusiasm, before getting bored and finally giving up. This means that the corner of your mouth that you begin with gets a good clean, but the rest gets nothing but a cursory going over.

We can, once again, turn to a timer to improve our habits here. Simply switch to a new quadrant of the mouth every 30 seconds.

Starting in a different area of the mouth each time you brush can also help.

4) Fruit Juice Before Bed

Fruit juices and smoothies have become extremely popular in the last few years, especially as an easy and delicious way to get one of your five-a-day.

The problem, though, is that these juices are anything but good for your teeth. They’re both full of sugar, and strongly acidic; a nightmare combination for your teeth.

More and more adults who can’t sleep tend to get out of bed and grab a glass of smoothie, before going back to sleep.

Leaving this acidic and sugary residue on your teeth all night while you sleep is not a good idea! The acid weakens your teeth’s defenses, whilst plaque bacteria thrives on the sugar.

If you do get up in the night, make that drink a nice, clean, cold glass of water instead.

5) Not Flossing

Nobody enjoys flossing their teeth, but unfortunately, it’s a must!

Toothbrushes simply can’t get in-between your teeth, and that means that if you’re giving the dental floss a miss, you’re leaving all sorts of nasties in those nooks and crannies.

Even if you brush diligently twice a day, the food particles and plaque bacteria that collect between your teeth can lead to Gingivitis if you don’t floss.

So knuckle down, crack out the dental floss, and make it a habit to floss every day before you brush your teeth.

It’s important to become aware of the habits you should be avoiding, if you want to enjoy excellent dental health.

So, here are 5 of the most common mistakes that are damaging people’s dental health:

1) Brushing Too Hard

Most people’s chief aim when brushing is to end up with a nice white set of teeth, and this leads some people to scrub much too hard in an effort to remove stains.

Bushing too hard can damage the enamel coating that surrounds your teeth. With that protective enamel layer weakened, plaque has a free reign to eat into your teeth.

Ironically, brushing too hard actually achieves the opposite effect and gives the teeth a darker shade, since enamel is the whitest part!

Don’t brush your teeth as though you’re scrubbing a red wine stain from a carpet! You don’t need to apply much pressure at all to remove everyday stains.

2) Not Brushing For Long Enough

Your dentist recommends that you brush for a full 2 minutes, yet data collected by Beam Technologies has shown that the average adult spends just 46 seconds brushing their teeth.

That’s a poor effort by anyone’s standards!

Research has shown that you are 50% more likely to brush for long enough if you use a timer.

Crack out your smartphone and fire up the timer app when you brush for an instant boost to your dental health.

3) Uneven Brushing

People tend to begin brushing with enthusiasm, before getting bored and finally giving up. This means that the corner of your mouth that you begin with gets a good clean, but the rest gets nothing but a cursory going over.

We can, once again, turn to a timer to improve our habits here. Simply switch to a new quadrant of the mouth every 30 seconds.

Starting in a different area of the mouth each time you brush can also help.

4) Fruit Juice Before Bed

Fruit juices and smoothies have become extremely popular in the last few years, especially as an easy and delicious way to get one of your five-a-day.

The problem, though, is that these juices are anything but good for your teeth. They’re both full of sugar, and strongly acidic; a nightmare combination for your teeth.

More and more adults who can’t sleep tend to get out of bed and grab a glass of smoothie, before going back to sleep.

Leaving this acidic and sugary residue on your teeth all night while you sleep is not a good idea! The acid weakens your teeth’s defences, whilst plaque bacteria thrives on the sugar.

If you do get up in the night, make that drink a nice, clean, cold glass of water instead.

5) Not Flossing

Nobody enjoys flossing their teeth, but unfortunately, it’s a must!

Toothbrushes simply can’t get in-between your teeth, and that means that if you’re giving the dental floss a miss, you’re leaving all sorts of nasties in those nooks and crannies.

Even if you brush diligently twice a day, the food particles and plaque bacteria that collect between your teeth can lead to Gingivitis if you don’t floss.

So knuckle down, crack out the dental floss, and make it a habit to floss every day before you brush your teeth.

It’s likely that the condition of our teeth influences health over many parts of our body beyond the digestive system.

Researchers have tied oral bacteria and tooth decay to a number of other illnesses, from heart disease and diabetes to kidney disease and premature birth.

While brushing thoroughly twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, flossing and rinsing with an anti-microbial mouthwash is still the standard of care for preventing cavities and gum disease, some new twists are being tried in the way people brush, rinse and otherwise protect their (hopefully) permanent choppers.

From the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, where researchers have been experimenting with a new toothpaste that contains three times as much fluoride as standard toothpaste, comes a comparison of brushing techniques.

The bottom line from the 16-volunteer experiment was that using a high-fluoride toothpaste three times a day provided four times greater fluoride protection than brushing with a standard toothpaste twice a day.

The study also tested a new “brushless” way for the third application of fluoride — rubbing toothpaste onto the front of the teeth with a finger. Researchers said the “massage” method is a good way to give teeth a third dose of fluoride during the day, but should not replace brushing morning and evening.

Researchers at the University of Leeds report they’re developing a new type of anti-cavity gel that may eliminate the need to drill and fill minor cavities.

The gel is designed to penetrate microscopic pores of a decaying tooth, and then releases a small peptide (amino acid chain) that develops into fibers that attract calcium.

Basically, the gel draws minerals into a damaged tooth and repairs a developing cavity from the inside out. While early tests of the material have given positive results, the researchers caution that the gel is likely to work best on very small, early-stage cavities. Major tooth decay will still likely require artificial fillings rather than self-repair.

At the School of Dentistry at the University of California at Los Angeles, researchers have been refining a new mouthwash that specifically targets a strain of bacteria that’s the main cause of tooth decay and cavities.

The mouthwash is the result of nearly a decade of research conducted by Wenyuan Shi, chair of the dental school’s oral biology section. It uses specially targeted anti-microbial peptides to exclusively attack Streptococcus mutans bacteria responsible for the onset of most cavities.

In one early trial, 12 people who’d rinsed with the mouthwash just once had nearly eliminated S. mutans over a four-day testing period, the journal Caries Research reported in late 2011.

Conventional mouthwashes kill oral bacteria for only about 12 hours, and destroy both harmful and benign pathogens, possibly disrupting the body’s normal balance of helpful microbes.

The product, licensed to a company founded by Shi, is undergoing additional testing as an investigational new drug under an application filed with the Food and Drug Administration.

What Are Dental Implants?

Dental implants are replacement tooth roots. Implants provide a strong foundation for fixed (permanent) or removable replacement teeth that are made to match your natural teeth.
What Are the Advantages of Dental Implants?

There are many advantages to dental implants, including:

Improved appearance. Dental implants look and feel like your own teeth. And because they are designed to fuse with bone, they become permanent.
Improved speech. With poor-fitting dentures, the teeth can slip within the mouth causing you to mumble or slur your words. Dental implants allow you to speak without the worry that teeth might slip.
Improved comfort. Because they become part of you, implants eliminate the discomfort of removable dentures.
Easier eating. Sliding dentures can make chewing difficult. Dental implants function like your own teeth, allowing you to eat your favorite foods with confidence and without pain.
Improved self-esteem. Dental implants can give you back your smile and help you feel better about yourself.
Improved oral health. Dental implants don’t require reducing other teeth, as a tooth-supported bridge does. Because nearby teeth are not altered to support the implant, more of your own teeth are left intact, improving long-term oral health. Individual implants also allow easier access between teeth, improving oral hygiene.
Durability. Implants are very durable and will last many years. With good care, many implants last a lifetime.
Convenience. Removable dentures are just that; removable. Dental implants eliminate the embarrassing inconvenience of removing dentures, as well as the need for messy adhesives to keep them in place.

How Successful Are Dental Implants?

Success rates of dental implants vary, depending on where in the jaw the implants are placed but, in general, dental implants have a success rate of up to 98%. With proper care (see below), implants can last a lifetime.
Can Anyone Get Dental Implants?

In most cases, anyone healthy enough to undergo a routine dental extraction or oral surgery can be considered for a dental implant. Patients should have healthy gums and enough bone to hold the implant. They also must be committed to good oral hygiene and regular dental visits. Heavy smokers, people suffering from uncontrolled chronic disorders — such as diabetes or heart disease — or patients who have had radiation therapy to the head/neck area need to be evaluated on an individual basis. If you are considering implants, talk to your dentist to see if they are right for you.

Does Insurance Cover the Cost of Dental Implants?

In general, dental implants are not covered by dental insurance at this time. Coverage under your medical plan may be possible, depending on the insurance plan and/or cause of tooth loss. Detailed questions about your individual needs and how they relate to insurance should be discussed with your dentist and insurance provider.

Without osseointegration, a dentist in NYC, or any other place for that matter, cannot hope to affix a dental implant on any proper slot in your gum. Dentists testify to the impressive success rate of this process in dental implant procedures. It is worth acknowledging how the incredible body learns to adjust and bond so well with foreign matter, such as titanium—that it eventually accepts it as its own.

If you want to have beautiful teeth so you can smile more confidently, a cosmetic dentist Tribeca is what you’re looking for.

What is Cosmetic Dentistry?

Cosmetic dentistry refers to any type of dental work, which improves the appearance of a patient’s teeth, gums, or bite. In general, the two areas involved in dental cosmetic and esthetical purposes are orthodontics and prosthodontics.

Urgent! Are you looking for a dentist in 10013 Tribeca? If you are then, here’s some advice you can take to the bank – don’t wait. Call a dentist Tribeca NY today. Remember those old gum commercials that said something like “4 out of 5 dentists agree” about this and that? You ever wonder if there was anything that they all agreed about? Well, there is – if you are experiencing dental issues, Do Not Wait! Seek help. Immediately. See, here’s the thing with dental issues and dental pain. It only gets worse.

If you’re living in the Tribeca, NY, area, you know how the world is changing. New York City has been the standard against which the rest of the world turns for decades now, and the problems she experiences are shared with the rest of them, too. It seems like every day our schedules get more hectic, traffic gets heavier, time gets shorter… and time slips by, faster and faster. With all of that going on, it’s hard to imagine taking time out for something even as simple as a visit to the dentist!

Hey!

Love my Sonicare toothbrush, and so do all my patients who use it. You really don’t get much buildup and staining so it makes dental cleanings a breeze wiht no pain!