How to Be a Better Dental Patient

When we talk about maintaining dental health, we talk about the habits and how-to’s. But what matters the most is how good your attitude is towards your dental health. An important aspect in this regard is to maintain good relationship with your dentist or oral hygienist.

In this article, we are going to discuss some tips that you can follow to become a better dental patient.

Ask for clarification

It is quite important to understand everything your dentist says to you. And if you are unable to understand a part of information provided by your dentist, you need to make sure that you ask them to tell you again. There are many clinical terms which you might not understand when you discuss things about your dental health with your dentist. And so, it is quite OK to ask your dentist about those things which you are unfamiliar of.

Let the dentist know your concerns

No matter how silly they may sound, your concerns may be the real and major reason you have been avoiding a particular dental treatment. And you need to know that the dentists get into a trouble when they have to guess what you concerns are. If you have the fear of dental treatment, you can talk to your dentist and tell them about your concerns. Dentists are also highly qualified when it comes to proper counseling in order to rectify the fear of dental treatment. If you have concerns about the costs, you can talk to them and they may be able tell you about alternate treatment options to prevent you from breaking your bank.

Do not agree to an appointment you can’t keep

If your dentist gives you an appointment and you are certain that you cannot keep that appointment, it would be better to not saying yes to that appointment rather than not being able to keep that appointment later. So, if you know that you cannot make it to the dental office at 4 PM any day during week days, do not commit to an appointment of that time.

Don’t lie about brushing and flossing routine

If you are not brushing and flossing your teeth on time or you are just missing the brushing and flossing, you need to tell about this to your dentist when they ask. The reason is that they will judge things based on the symptoms and if you are not being truthful about your dental hygiene routine, they might suspect about something serious which would not be the case.

Tell them about your dietary choices

Your diet has everything to do with your oral and dental health. Therefore, it is quite important for your dentist to know about your dietary choices. If the foods and beverages you consume are not good for your dental and oral health, your dentist will be in a better position to help you in quitting those foods.

How Bad is Falling Asleep without Brushing Your Teeth?

Now, you might forget about brushing your teeth, or you might actually just fall asleep without doing it. you might think it’s no big deal, but here’s something that’s kind of gross: going to bed without brushing your teeth is like going to bed with poop in your mouth. It makes your time with a Kennewick dentist all the harder, and you might wonder why this is? Well, there are a few reasons for this, and this article will tell you just what is going on.

The first thing you might ask, is “how.” Well, how could that be? Remember that every time you eat, the bacteria in your mouth will feast upon all of the food that you’re eating. Just like every other organism out there, bacteria will excrete waste after a meal, which is in fact highly acidic. This can break down the enamel of a tooth, causing tooth and root decay, along with cavities.

When you go to bed without brushing, the plaque will then harden, and this becomes calcified on the tooth. Once it is calcified, it’s actually a lot harder to get rid of a toothbrush and floss. It’s then only removed by a hygienist during teeth cleaning.

You might think this is gross already, but it can get worse. You might think that it’s just this. Remember, gums see plaque buildup as an infection, so your immune system comes forward and starts to attack it. By attacking this, your body will then destroy the healthy tissues holding the teeth in place, which in turn will cause these to pull away from the tooth as a result of this.  This is inflammation, and while it is good to help protect the body, it causes damage when it’s there for a long time. If you get a cold or flu for example, the inflammation will get rid of the foreign entities to get you back to battery. However, think of it as a sort of chronic flue, which puts extreme wear and tear on the body. It actually has been linked to hearing loss, heart disease, and dementia.

Now, you might wonder if this will all happen in the course of a night. The answer is obviously no, but think of it this way: if you have a habit of not brushing and flossing, this will totally happen over time.

Now, if it comes down to putting yourself to bed, or brushing and flossing, it’s important to brush and floss. It only takes about two minutes to do each day, and it will take off years of pain, and it can even extend your life because you’re not subject to these diseases over time.

But what if you’re too tired to brush before bed? That isn’t really an excuse, and you’ll save yourself a lot of trips to the Kennewick dentist if you do this. The first, is to have a toothbrush by the drawer of your nightstand. Really, you don’t even need toothpaste, but rather you can dry brush while you’re in bed. Get some of that Snap-On sanitizer to keep it clean, and it will definitely be fresh despite no toothpaste. You can even leave a stick here as well, making it easy to floss in one hand while you lie in bed.

Now, run your tongue over your teeth. If you feel plaque, you’ll start to realize how bad this is for you. The longer you let it sit, the worse it’ll be. Start to run your tongue over your teeth to create this habit. You’ll want to have slippery, clean teeth before bed.

Doing this, along with seeing your Kennewick dentist and keeping this in mind, will keep your mouth nice and healthy. Do this, actually make sure that you take the time to maintain this, and from there, you’ll be able to have a much easier, much healthier life. You’ll be able to extend the life of your teeth by years with this and this alone. All of us get tired, all of us are exhausted, but remember that it’s no excuse to keep, especially when you want a healthier and better mouth.