Keep Your Smile In Style

Maintaining oral hygiene is hardly a morning and bedtime brushing routine to be overlooked. Taking care of your pearly whites can bring not only physical benefits but emotional benefits as well.

The National Institutes of Health provides steps to maintain healthy teeth and gums including questions to ask your dentist at your next dental visit. They are as follows:

Steps for healthy teeth and gums:

• Brush your teeth at least twice daily, preferably after every meal and at bedtime.
• Floss at least once per day.
• Schedule an appointment with a dentist for a routine cleaning and examination. Many dentists recommend having the teeth professionally cleaned every 6 months.
• Keep dentures, retainers, and other appliances clean. This includes regular brushing and may include soaking them in a cleansing solution.

Ask your dentist:

• What toothbrush you should use, and where your problem areas are located. Ask if an electric tooth brush is right for you. Such brushes have been shown to clean teeth better than manual tooth brushes.
• How to properly floss your teeth. Overly vigorous or improper flossing may injure the gums.
• Whether you should use any special appliances or tools, such as water irrigation. This may sometimes help supplement (but not replace) brushing and flossing.
• Whether you could benefit from particular toothpastes or mouth rinses. In some cases, over-the-counter pastes and rinses may be doing you more harm than good, depending on your condition.

Fun facts about smiles: 

In March 2011 at a TED Conference, Ron Gutman stated the following fun facts and emotional benefits of a smile, 

• Reduce the level of stress enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine
• Increase the level of mood enhancing hormones like endorphins and reduce blood pressure. 
• Increase physical appearance in the eyes of others. 
• Appear to be more likable, courteous, and competent.
• An average child smiles 400 times per day.
• Mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically help an individual understand whether the smile is fake or real, helping us better understand the emotional state of the [smiling individual].

References:

Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling | Video on TED.com. TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling.html

Dental care - adult: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. (n.d.). National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency