[turquoise_and_takoyaki]

We all know that we should brush our teeth twice a day to keep them clean and better yet to keep them for the rest of our lives. Since teeth don't grow back when we lose them so we better look after them right? And I am not just talking about the teeth, talking about oral hygiene - the whole mouth, including the gums and cheeks. So how is your oral hygiene at the moment? Do you need to see graphic photos to be reminded on how important it is? I am just curious on how other people take care of their teeth.


Since I have developed a gum condition I have been very careful with oral hygiene.
My routine includes:
Brushing teeth after meals (so I pretty much brush my teeth 4-6 times a day)
Floss once a day - before sleeping
Use mouthwash
Drink plenty of water
Brush teeth after eating anything even just a biscuit or after drinking milk/coffee (but sometimes I have no time so I just drink more water to produce more saliva)
Eat gum (I must say I stopped eating gum for two years since I just keep brushing my teeth, I feel really guilty if I don't brush so I stopped eating gum)


See my dentist every 6 months
See my gum specialist every 6 months


so what's your oral hygiene like?

[Makaveli]

I brush twice a day. Morning and night. Mouthwash.
That's about it. I see my dentist every 6 months
and he always jokes that my teeth are so nice that i'm gonna put him
outta businesss. So i'd say my oral hygene is Sexcellent

[turquoise_and_takoyaki]

^^Lucky you!!! Wish my teeth were sexy too haha

[dolcedor.]

I brush twice a day and floss once at night. My teeth have always been pretty healthy--I've never had cavities. But I've had issues with my gums before. So now I try to take better care of them. I never used to floss everyday--more like once every 3-4 days. lol. But since then, I've gotten into the habit of flossing on a regular basis.

[eunbit]

Brushing your teeth with Toothpaste and Getting Regular Cleanings: Quickest way to Ruin Your Teeth


How to have perfect Teeth:
1) drink water after eating/drinking. water will neutralize the acids which degrade tooth enamel
2) brush teeth with soap. Soap kills the bacteria which causes gingivitis and other gum diseases. Also, it easily dissolves and brushes away plaque, and quickly loosens tartar (calculus).
Though soap will sorta budge into floss's territory, you should still floss to get rid of stuck food particles. Only, after you brush with soap, you will see that is almost nothing left to floss.
Additionally, the absence of glycerin and fluoride allow, respectively, teeth to remineralize (bye bye cavities) and gum pockets to heal, allowing teeth to stay where they belong - in your head.


Me:
In my family, I was the lazy one who brushed the least. Growing up, I would frequently not brush at night, or go a day here and there without brushing. I also ate a ton of candy and sweets. A lot of my milk teeth had cavities.

Fast forward ten years:
I got better a bit better. I flossed once in a while, I brushed ~ 1x a day. My siblings were brushing their teeth like crazy, 2-3 times a day. For some reason, I felt like brushing too often would weaken my teeth. After all, most of the American adults I know over 50 have full or partial dentures, while my asian grandparents have all of their natural teeth.

Result?
I have had one small cavity, whereas my siblings have all each had numerous cavities, root canals, and ongoing dental problems. And yes, they'd brush very well, floss adequately, and use mouthwash.

It turns out I was lucky. My laziness? strange ideas about teeth? saved me b/c my contact with toothpaste was reduced (probably 5 or 6 fold). Oh yeah, I've had a grand total of two dental cleanings in my life. They are really unnecessary if you don't use toothpaste. Heck, even then they just cause more problems!!


It turns out that fluoride is actually terrible for teeth. Go ahead, Google it. Even the idea of 'tooth decay' from bacteria is a complete lie. What do we know about teeth? About Toothpaste?

Teeth are mineral structures (ie, crystal-lattice structure) which can be mineralized or demineralized.
The teeth of dinosaurs/other fossils from millions of years ago have NOT been degraded, despite lifetimes of contact with bacteria (which obviously degraded the soft tissues).
Only acids can dissolve teeth.
(Consider the fact that soda is 10,000 more acidic than water. Is it surprising that a tooth submerged in soda will completely disintegrate in one hour?)
Why are we told bacteria help to 'decay' the teeth? They obviously cannot decay a mineral, inorganic structure.
On the other hand, Gingivitis is caused by bacteria.
And yet, toothpaste is not antibacterial.
Toothpaste has sweeteners, industrial foaming agents, sand (silica), glycerin, and fluoride.

Sand scrapes away at the enamel layer of teeth, weakening it. (yet helps teeth 'whiten', no?)

Fluoride causes gum pockets, and teeth to fall out.
Why? Fluoride severes the protein molecules which adhere teeth to the gums.
As the gum begins to fall away from the tooth, gum pockets form.
These gum pockets are dangerous for two reasons:
1) They catch and hold food particles, causing gum infection
2) Dentist tools which pit and rip holes through tooth enamel go down even deeper from these gum pockets; these are true 'cavities', or holes, which catch small particles of food and cause gum infection.
The cycle continues: more brushing w/ fluoride increases gum deteroriation; eventually, the teeth will fall out.
This would be bad enough. Why is it that even for people with good "dental habits" cavities seem unavoidable?

Glycerin
The continued brushing of teeth with toothpaste coats the mouth and teeth with glycerin.
This supersticky layer takes more than 27 rinses to come off the teeth, compared to 2 rinses for soap to cleanly rinse away.
Worse, since the teeth are coated, it is impossible for them to remineralize.
In other words, the perfect conditions for teeth to be further worn away by acids, without the ability to be rebuilt/remineralize.

How to have perfect Teeth:
1) drink water after eating/drinking. water will neutralize the acids which degrade tooth enamel
2) brush teeth with soap. Soap kills the bacteria which causes gingivitis and other gum diseases. Also, it easily dissolves and brushes away plaque, and quickly loosens tartar (calculus).
Though soap will sorta budge into floss's territory, you should still floss to get rid of stuck food particles. Only, after you brush with soap, you will see that is almost nothing left to floss.
Additionally, the absence of glycerin and fluoride allow, respectively, teeth to remineralize (bye bye cavities) and gum pockets to heal, allowing teeth to stay where they belong - in your head.


In short, the so-called "good dental hygiene" of Americans is precisely why so few Americans beyond their fifties still have their natural teeth.

[Makaveli]

eunbit

That's an interesting post. What soap do you use to brush?

[turquoise_and_takoyaki]

wow eunbit, that's very interesting!! opens my eyes knowing that I brush my teeth upto 6 times a day!! I was wondering though what toothpaste is that? Is it all of the toothpastes? I guess I just need to read the label and see what's in my toothpaste?


edit: I noticed this morning that my gum around my wisdom tooth got torn and I am freaking out since my gum specialist in closed for the holidays! Im scared of getting another gum infection

[ciel]

I brush my teeth in the morning and at night. I floss every night too. If I don't floss, I feel extremely gross.. as if I hadn't cleaned my teeth at all. And of course dentist visit every 6 months

[xradiostatic]

i brush my teeth twice a day - in the morning and at night. i rinse with water and then with listerine.
i need to start flossing more often too.

i see my dentist every 6 months as well. :]

[eunbit]

eunbit

That's an interesting post. What soap do you use to brush?

A Marseille soap. Look at my sig to get as much (or little) info as you want.

wow eunbit, that's very interesting!! opens my eyes knowing that I brush my teeth upto 6 times a day!! I was wondering though what toothpaste is that? Is it all of the toothpastes? I guess I just need to read the label and see what's in my toothpaste?


edit: I noticed this morning that my gum around my wisdom tooth got torn and I am freaking out since my gum specialist in closed for the holidays! Im scared of getting another gum infection

You have a gum specialist? And frequent gum infections?

Read my post again. Stop using toothpaste immediately, if you want your gums to heal.

If your gums are in that bad a state, I don't think you should even wait to buy a recommended soap. Use any soap you have to brush your teeth. The antibacterial action of soap will kill off the bacteria that's causing infections. Brush really well the first time (gently does it) for maybe 4-5 minutes; you probably have a ton of glycerin buildup. Make sure to rinse at least twice what you usually go.

It sounds alternative and unorthodox, but I guarantee that within a week (probably within a day) your gums will be in a much healthier state. Try it and surprise your dentist. Then run away before your teeth are pitted and scarred from the dental instruments (which leads to more gum infections)

Your gums are in serious danger from abusing fluoride.

[ITS VIVIAN! =D]

eunbit: You do know there are antibacterial mouthwashes out there right? It's called Biotene. Way much better alternative than brushing teeth with 'soap'. Let's just keep soap for cleaning and washing our hands..

edit-
Oops, I forgot to put my Oral Hygiene routines up ;]
For a daily basis, I brush my teeth two times a day, once in the morning and once at night before I go to bed. I floss everyday, at night before I go to bed ( I have to use those threader floss since I have braces...very uhh time consuming ) I also use mouth wash after I brush my teeth to avoid cavities...

[eunbit]

eunbit: You do know there are antibacterial mouthwashes out there right? It's called Biotene. Way much better alternative than brushing teeth with 'soap'. Let's just keep soap for cleaning and washing our hands..

edit-
Oops, I forgot to put my Oral Hygiene routines up ;]
For a daily basis, I brush my teeth two times a day, once in the morning and once at night before I go to bed. I floss everyday, at night before I go to bed ( I have to use those threader floss since I have braces...very uhh time consuming ) I also use mouth wash after I brush my teeth to avoid cavities...

once again, bacteria does not cause cavities.
mouthwashes are fine if you're just concerned with minimal prevention of gum infections.

If you don't want cavities, weak teeth, gum pockets, plaque, tartar buildup, calculus formation, or your teeth to fall out... you shouldn't use toothpaste with glycerin or fluoride.

I'd rather just use soap than bothering with finding one.

[turquoise_and_takoyaki]

eunbit is there any soap especially formulated for the teeth? i tried to google "tooth soap" but couldn't find an answer. or better yet is there any hassle free tooth paste that you know?

[eunbit]

eunbit is there any soap especially formulated for the teeth? i tried to google "tooth soap" but couldn't find an answer. or better yet is there any hassle free tooth paste that you know?

Um, it seems like you don't have the luxury of time here.

There are jars of shredded soap being sold as tooth soaps (ie, toothsoap.com)... it's a sponsored Google link.


Anyways, you can just use a simple olive oil or other vegetable oil based soap.
Just nothing from stores like Walmart. The one I use is from Olivia Care.
Click on the links in my sig if you want to know what kinds are good or bad and why.


*I won't be adding more posts on soap vs standard products besides my own topic. There are a lot of narrow-minded people out there way too satisfied with themselves and the status quo. I'd rather not bother with them*

[Xiaoba1tu]

I brush after every meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Not including if I'm out of the house.
However no dentist visits after I was 16 (the maximum age where the government doesn't subsidize the costs of dental visits).
Floss only if I can feel something there. I know it's better to floss no matter if you can or cannot feel something there.

Soap to brush teeth? That's interesting.

Thanks for the tip about drinking water after everything you consume to "rinse" out bacteria and other stuff. Makes sense.

[keichii]

The majority of the people do brush their teeth which is good, but most people do not floss their teeth. The aim of flossing is not to remove the debris stuck between teeth or fissures (thats the functions of tooth picks), but its actually to remove tartar or plague in difficult to reach places (that tooth brush themselves cannot).

If you dont remove these plagues and tartar, they'll harden and form 'calculus' - these are the hard yellowy stuff that dentists have to clean out every half yearly or so... Why are they bad? ...well they go on the roots and below the gum, which cause the recession of gum and so the tooth will loose its support and become wobbly AND not to mention it looks awefully bad. The bad thing about calculus is that its not removable by your tooth brushes (so see your dentist at least every year!) and build up of it can lead to gum diseases.

So that is why daily flossing is really important!

[daulism]

i brush my teeth after every meal and before i go out... haha i needa buy more listerine and also i floss at night

[RYUUSEi]

I brush my teeth morning and night and I've never had any holes or problems.

I'd never brush my teeth after every single meal (unless it's without the toothpaste?) because I've heard it's really bad for your teeth.

My mum wants me to start flossing my teeth daily so I'm gonna start doing that soon.

[Honey.bee]

Wow, I never knew fluoride causes THAT many damages to your teeth. I'm currently using it along with my family members..not because I saw the advertisement in the commercial, it's the only toothpaste we have. Should I buy a different one? If so, do you recommend any ideal toothpastes?

[turquoise_and_takoyaki]

^^ Im looking up on that, I am trying to find a tooth soap or a toothpaste with no added fluoride, I actually saw a herbal toothpaste with no added fluoride however I do not know if it's good also the other chemicals such as glycerin and sls as mentioned by eunbit above is still in the herbal toothpaste. I am currently using colgate but Im trying to ween off it.