Waterflossers are better than nothing. Best is floss to get the stuff wedged at the contact, then interdental brushes to get the stuff under the contact - these must be snug, otherwise you’re not effectively using them.
Soft and small toothbrush, preferably an electric with a pressure sensor. The counter oscillating Crest/Oral B type is probably the most affordable. Don’t need to get the top model. Some only time 2 minutes instead of 30s, so I’d recommend counting to 30 seconds (properly! Not rushing!) and do a quarter of your mouth at a time. Point at the gumline a little when you brush, approximately 45 degrees. You just push your lips and tongue out of the way. Do an extra minute after you’re done with 2 minutes. Do this at least twice daily, consider a third time during the day, and you must not skip the one just before you sleep. Do not consume anything but water after this and prior to sleep. Do not get a midnight snack.
Use neutrafluor/prevident 5000 toothpaste, or clinpro 5000. Extra fluoride means extra protection from acid challenges. Use neutrafluor mouthwash if you must use a m/w during the day. Do not rinse the paste off your teeth.
Eliminate where possible from your diet anything sour, tart, or fizzy. That includes soda water and citrus and ACV. Eliminate where possible sweet things, including fruit - especially dried fruit.
Rinse with plain water after eating and drinking. Common triggers are foods that may be fried, fatty, and or spicy. Some people are triggered by dairy or lactose, or eating too late before lying down.
Treat your heartburn by prevention, not relievers. If you experience any symptom relating to heartburn, rinse thoroughly with plain water. Do this too if you vomit for any reason.
If you have dry mouth, try Xylimelts or the new range Freshmelts (this doesn’t seem toxic to dogs). You can wear these during your sleep. Also treat the origin of your dry mouth.
…I’m sure I have other tips… But these are the most common ones I make to my patients.
Another “not” stupid question - about the paste, I’ve seen this before where it says don’t rinse off the teeth. Does that mean you’re supposed to brush and spit out what you can, and just leave the foaming mess in your mouth as you sleep? I’m genuinely confused.
Once you’ve spat out as much as possible, it’s not a foaming mess, just a smear.
Many toothpastes don’t foam either.
If you dislike not rinsing at all, my tip is to brush, rinse, then smear a very small amount of fresh toothpaste on.
Watch YouTube videos on how to brush and floss.
I am absolutely taking the L here since I’ve apparently been brushing my teeth wrong for most of my life.
I’ll never get flossing right so water picking has been the next best thing.
I currently spend a 1-2k a year at the dentist, which imo, isn’t that bad. But probably way less had I learned proper brushing and had better flossing habits.
I have dental care, but the thing we should all be doing is flossing once a day. Brush twice a day. Brushing should take 2-3 minutes. Do a circular motion with your brush and get all of the surfaces clean. Use your tongue to feel for plaque and spot brush to remove that. I hope you can see a dentist sometime in the future.
Brush and floss
Brush, floss and mouthwash. Stay clear of gum and soda.
Based on recent research, mouthwash is now in question in my books.
We aimed to assess if daily usage of Listerine Cool Mint influenced the composition of the pharyngeal microbiome… Listerine use was associated with an increased abundance of common oral opportunistic bacteria previously reported to be enriched in periodontal diseases, oesophageal and colorectal cancer, and systemic diseases. These findings suggest that the regular use of Listerine mouthwash should be carefully considered.
Basically, it differentially kills good bacteria, leaving more of the bad kind.
https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001830
Mouthwash has never been a question in mine. Brush, floss, and genetics. Mouthwash is for suckers.
Isn’t xylitol gum recommended though? Maybe I’m using the wrong term.
What about sugar-free gum?
It’s not the sugar, it’s the abrasive.
Totally true which is why I only chew abrasive free.
Brush and floss just like your dentist tells you. Also use a real mouthwash, like Listerine.
See comment above, but basically, I question whether mouthwash is all that, based on recent research: https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001830
If you do exactly what your dentist tells you, you should be coming in every 6 months for a checkup…
And your point?
That’s wildly out of the financial means of a lot of us.
Shop around, you can frequently get discounts or cheaper rates if you tell them you’re uninsured / self pay. I’ve had to do this during tough financial times.
There may also be some luxuries or other corners you can safely cut if you go over your budget with a fine toothed comb.
Sorry, but it just gets more expensive to care for them later. Aim for at least a yearly cleaning/exam so that they can catch issues before they become serious. Twice a year is better.
And find a dentist that is conservative about fillings. My dentist almost never recommends procedures unless there is actual decay, and I trust them to not push work on me that I don’t need.
Bingo.
Pay now, or pay a LOT more later (with a lot more pain, and maybe major issues).
I’ve been there.
I had thousands of dollars of dental work done when I had no insurance and made $15/hr. Talked to the dentist, we worked out a plan to get the crucial stuff done. He didn’t want me leaving without a plan to take care things, despite OP’s implication about dentists being money grubbers.
My father owned a small business, people would sometimes complain he was “cheating them”. His answer - there’s more work than I can do in a day, I don’t need to fuck anyone to make a buck.
OK?
OP was bitching about dentist telling him what to do. Why are you moving the goalposts?
if you find yourself saying that someone asking for advice or help is “bitching” about something, just do everyone (including yourself) a favour and ignore the post and go on with your day.
As someone from the Netherlands, where cavities get checked twice a year and filled for a few euros a month, this is actually wild to read.
Do people here overpay insurance that much? Or is this just a business in some other countries? Or is it something else entirely?
If you are truly struggling and need actual dental care, try searching for a local dental school near you. Many will take patients for cheap or free, with the caveat that a dental student will be performing the treatment.
Otherwise, brush at least twice a day and floss. Do not re-use strands of floss, like with those convenient plastic picks. You’ll just be transferring bacteria to each crevice after it’s been used.
Get a water pick (whatever it’s called) - I heard those are great but I don’t have one myself.
… Wait, don’t reuse dental floss? Oh no. I thought the point was only to loosen gunk!
Also, in my area, most dentists will allow you to pay over time (like a year+…).
And there are FREE programs like this:
Niagara’s Mobile Dental Clinic
Ask around - you may be surprised.
Every dentist I’ve had disliked water piks. I had one for a while. Had.
Any particular reason why?
Not the above poster but I’ve had dentists share the same sentiment and mostly I’ve heard it’s because the majority of their patients who use it, use it as a replacement for more thorough dental care–they don’t floss and/or brush because they think they’re getting clean enough with the pik. The dentist who told me this basically said, “It’s fine as a supplement after you brush and after you floss, to flush out any lingering debris from those two activities, but it’s really just not worth the time or money.”
Pick up boxing as a habit.
Get a Sonicare toothbrush
Brush, floss, no sugar
You forgot genetics.
Sadly genetics are not things you can do to maintain your teeth. You have them or you don’t have them. But regardless of your base genetics, regular flossing, regular brushing, and no sugar in your diet will give you the best dental hygiene you can hope for
hunt down people with genetically good teeth and steal their genome
There is a rally good episode of the Huberman Lab podcast. Can’t recommend it enough. Explains how teeth to regenerate to a certain extend and how to promote that.
A toothpaste that restores your enamel. It’s prescription in the US but you can get Apagard Premio off Amazon.
It’s probably a good idea to get some extra fluoride since the Apagard doesn’t have any. I use purple Listerine, but I kinda hate it, so find something you like.
You should floss, which I’m shitty at, so I use a water pick a few times a week. All kinds of nasty crap comes out, even after brushing, so it’s gotta be better than nothing.
I use a Philips Sonicare toothbrush, no need to get the fancy ones, it’s mostly extra accessories. There are probably less expensive ultrasonic toothbrushes out there that work well… doing it twice a day manually is probably better for you than once a day with a fancy toothbrush.
Hang in there, clinical trials of a drug that regrows teeth are underway and the results are promising.
Floss picks, with a little piece of floss held in a plastic “harp” are so much easier than a spool of loose floss.
I am also told that flossing, while it does remove gunk and food bits, introduces oxygen, which serves to fight off anaerobic bacteria.
I’m going to give those another try. My mouth is tiny and my fingers are stubby (thanks dad! ;-) But you get way more crap out with floss.
Most of the ones you find will have the “handle” parallel to the floss. There are some out there where the handle is perpendicular to the floss, but they’re a bit harder to find on store shelves. I found that the latter make it much easier to get to the back teeth, but I do just fine with the former, too.
Disclaimer: This is not personal medical/dental advice, just my own understanding that I’m sharing.
Floss (or water pick) first, then mouthwash, then brush, then don’t rinse.
Floss to open up the gums and knock loose anything stuck in between teeth. Mouthwash to get rid of the solids and get a bit of fluoride in between teeth. Brushing after mouthwash, because toothpaste typically has a much higher concentration of fluroide than mouthwash does. And avoid rinsing after brushing so you don’t wash away the residual fluoride from the toothpaste.
Sounds logical.
Unless your toothpaste has no fluoride ;-)
My yearly dental works always cost a fortune, but my teeth are great now, since:
- I got an electric brush and floss sticks;
- I now drink coffee without sugar (you’ll get used to it pretty quickly);
- I almost completely stopped drinking sugary drinks (mostly bubbly water now, boycotting evil companies and being poor help).
Point one is key! I will add to it, floss of any sort is great. And for my mouth ‘interdental brushes’ do just a little bit more, so the combination has become a key part of my dental routine.
Cut out soft-drinks in general.
They are not only packed full of sugar, but some very popular ones contain phosphoric acid. If you had to invent an combination of edible ingredients designed to damage tooth enamel, you couldn’t do worse. The fact that this is a diet-friendly option is almost a side-benefit. It’s that bad.
