Dental hygiene

Oral hygiene is an important part of a daily routine. It is the practice of keeping your mouth clean and free of disease, by regular brushing and cleaning in between the teeth. It is important oral hygiene is completed on a regular basis, as it can prevent dental disease from occurring. The most common types of dental disease is dental decay (also known as dental caries), gingivitis and periodontitis. Regular brushing consists of brushing twice a day after breakfast and before going to bed. Cleaning in between your teeth is called interdental cleaning and it is equally important as tooth brushing. This is because a toothbrush cannot reach between your teeth, therefore only cleaning 50% of the surfaces. There are many tools to clean between the teeth, these include floss, flossettes, interdental brushes, wood sticks and gum picks. It is generally up to each individual to choose which tool they would prefer to use.

Teeth cleaning is the removal of dental plaque and tartar from teeth to prevent cavities, gingivitis, gum disease, and tooth decay. Severe gum disease causes at least one-third of adult tooth loss.

Tooth decay is the most common global disease. Over 80% of cavities occur inside fissures in teeth where brushing cannot reach food left trapped after every meal or snack and saliva or fluoride have no access to neutralise acid and remineralise demineralised teeth, unlike easy-to-clean parts of the tooth, where fewer cavities occur.

Dental sealants, which are applied by dentists, cover and protect fissures and grooves in the chewing surfaces of back teeth, preventing food from becoming trapped thus halting the decaying process. An elastomer strip has been shown to force sealant deeper inside opposing chewing surfaces and can also force fluoride toothpaste inside chewing surfaces to aid in remineralising demineralised teeth.

Since before recorded history, a variety of oral hygiene measures have been used for teeth cleaning. This has been verified by various excavations done throughout the world, in which chew sticks, tree twigs, bird feathers, animal bones and porcupine quills were recovered. Many people used different forms of teeth cleaning tools. Indian medicine (Ayurveda) has used the neem tree, or daatun, and its products to create teeth cleaning twigs and similar products; a person chews one end of the neem twig until it somewhat resembles the bristles of a toothbrush, and then uses it to brush the teeth. In the Muslim world, the miswak, or siwak, made from a twig or root, has antiseptic properties and has been widely used since the Islamic Golden Age. Rubbing baking soda or chalk against the teeth was also common, however this can have negative side effects over time.

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Wikipedia