The Biggest Dental Care Mistakes You’re Making

Dental health is one of the most important parts of our overall wellness, and just like fitness, nutrition and skincare, our teeth require a routine of care. Every aspect of our teeth is an important part of keeping us healthy, from our heart health to how we feel about ourselves. If we neglect our dental care might end up having issues like infections, gum disease, and dental trauma.

Not everyone who doesn’t take care of our teeth does it out of negligence though. Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. There are many mistakes we make with our teeth that are completely avoidable, and here's a list of some of the things that are affecting your dental health.

Not Getting Quality Care

Many people look at their dental care like it's a grudge purchase and not a fundamental and valuable investment in their health. As a result, they take shortcuts with their dental care, and one way they do that is to work with dental professionals who don't provide quality care or good service. Every market has great dentists, but also people who cut corners. It's important to put your health in the hands of a dentist you trust, and a dentist who is trusted by many other people. You can easily find out who is good in your market by typing in Dentist Austin Texas into your Google search. In that city, Enamel Dentistry is a leading dental care provider, and they have an amazing track record of 5-star reviews and happy patients who trust them to keep healthy teeth. With 4 offices at Lantana Place, Parmer Park, South Lamar and Saltillo, they have multiple locations, making it convenient for their valued patients.

Waiting Till Something is Wrong

When it comes to taking care of our health, there are two approaches we can take, the preventive approach or the treatment approach. The latter only focuses on getting professional help in the event of something going wrong. In the case of our teeth, taking the treatment approach would be waiting till we have a toothache, or an infection to get into the dentist's chair.

The only problem with this, is there might have been points before the catastrophe where something could have been done to deal with any issues and to nip them in the bud. A huge portion of the medical and dental field is taking the preventive approach because it can actually make a huge impact on the patient's life and save them time and stress by dealing with an issue before it worsens. Waiting until something is wrong is one the biggest mistakes we can make. Having a good dentist and sticking to the recommended visits is an investment you make in not ending up with a dental emergency.

How We Eat and Drink

We all enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail, but often the habits we form around drinking actually compromise our dental health. What we eat and drink contains acids that can attack the enamel of our teeth and break down and weaken the surface. When our teeth get weakened, we become more susceptible to chips, breaks and infections. We should make it a priority to take care of our teeth after we consume food and drink. First of all drinking water is very important because it dilutes the acids and stops them from attacking out teeth. It's also important to either rinse out our mouth with water or brush our teeth after a meal or when we finish our glass of wine or cocktail. 

Brushing Your Teeth Wrong

Brushing our teeth effectively is the cornerstone of any dental care routine, but you'll be surprised to know that many of us are doing it all wrong, and actually damaging our teeth in the process. If you're using a hard-bristled toothbrush, you not only risk damaging the surface of your teeth, but you also make it hard to truly get the harder to reach parts of your teeth and gums clean. It's also a big mistake to brush vigorously as this can also cause damage and break down your enamel layer. Also avoid brushing your teeth from side to side as this might also massively damage them. These are some of the ways we brush our teeth and how to correct it.

Using Damaging Substances to Whiten Teeth

Teeth whitening is one of the most popular dental treatments right now, so much so that people have tried to find home and natural remedies to cut corners to achieve white teeth without a hefty price tag. Some of the most popular home whiteners are baking soda which promises to remove surface stains and clean the surface of your teeth. The only problem is that people tend to overuse baking soda, which may remove stains in the short-term but in the long-term will cause damage by breaking down the enamel and making the teeth more sensitive. This opens the door to a hoard of other issues. If you're considering whitening your teeth, get a professional to do it so that you get the results without the side effects.