The Importance Of Maintaining Oral Hygiene

Good health means the absence of disease or infection in our bodies and this therefore means that it is an important part of our lives. When the body is fit we do not need to visit a doctor thereby saving time and money. When we are in good health our quality of life improves tremendously. Good health or fitness includes physical, mental, emotional and social wellness. Some of the things that affect the quality of our lives are stress and poor eating habits.

Some of the most important areas of our health that we need to pay special attention to are physical and oral hygiene. However, I am going to focus on oral hygiene. Oral hygiene is important because if poorly exercised or neglected, can lead to a number of problems such as bad breath, gingivitis, tooth decay and gum disease. The most prevalent among these is tooth decay which is a result of poor teeth cleaning or the complete lack of it.

Tooth decay has been a problem for many decades and although it affects all age groups it is mostly rampant among young children because they have poor teeth cleaning practices. Tooth decay occurs as a result of an accumulation of plaque on the teeth which then combines with bacteria found in food particles. The bacteria react with the food particles thereby forming some sort of acid which penetrates the tooth’s enamel and forms cavities in the teeth. In order to prevent tooth decay, you should brush your teeth well and maintain a good oral hygiene routine.

Another way to prevent tooth decay is through good dental flossing practices. Flossing means the use of a specially waxed thread that is passed between the teeth which helps to remove food particles that are stuck hence enabling bacteria to react with them resulting in tooth decay or gum disease. Flossing therefore greatly improves the general health of the gums and most importantly our oral hygiene.

Bad breath is another very sensitive and very important part our oral hygiene. One of the most common causes of bad breath is poor teeth cleaning techniques. One of the simplest ways to avoid having bad breath is to brush your teeth regularly and most importantly after every meal as recommended by dental hygiene experts. It is important for us to prevent bad breath because it can embarrass us in public or during social functions and can lead to loss of confidence. Fresh breath on the hand makes us confident and people will not be afraid to be around us when we open our mouths to speak.

Apart from bad breath and tooth decay, inflammation of the periodontium i.e. the gums, bone and soft tissue surrounding teeth; also known as gingivitis is the other common problem associated with poor dental hygiene. Gingivitis is among the most prevalent periodontal diseases. If not treated early, gingivitis is likely to develop into more severe infections such as periodontitis or the life threatening acute necrotic ulcerative gingivitis.

Proper oral hygiene is a must if we are to avoid these conditions. Another way to maintain good oral hygiene is to make visits to the dentist a regular routine. A visit to the dentist will enable us to detect any problem with our teeth early enough and therefore prevent any complications and any further damage to our teeth. A dentist will also give us advice on how to avoid problems such as gingivitis and proper teeth cleaning techniques. In addition we will get information on the best type of toothbrush that we should use and how often we should change our toothbrushes so as to keep our teeth healthy and clean and therefore improve our general oral hygiene. A dentist will also take care of any cavities that may have formed on our teeth by filling them and give us solutions to any gum problems that we may have encountered.

Last but not least, toothbrushes are the most important tools for maintaining proper oral hygiene  but if we improperly use and store them they can cause us a lot of problems. We should therefore change our toothbrushes regularly so as to leave our teeth sparkling clean and enhance our breath. However, we should maintain a very high standard of toothbrush hygiene to prevent infection to our teeth as a result of improperly kept toothbrushes. If we don’t take proper care of our tooth brushes they can get contaminated and pass on the germs to us. We should make sure we rinse them thoroughly after use and properly store them to prevent contamination.

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