As you browse the dental care aisle at your local pharmacy, you may notice a wide range of ‘tools’ intended to help you maintain your oral health.
There are multiple choices, even only for dental floss: Do you need waxed or unwaxed? Flavoured? Traditional or tape? And then there’s the assortment of mouthwashes, oral irrigators, and various tools you can choose to help you achieve maximum oral health.
The question may arise, “What do I need out of all these tools?”
In this post, your friends at Alex Bratic Dental Care will introduce you to dental tools beyond simple brushes and floss – tools that can help you maximise your dental health!
Tools For Terrific Teeth!
Here are a few options to help you improve your oral health with technology.
Electric Toothbrush. This is a very common tool that has several advantages.
Electronic toothbrushes provide superior plaque removal to regular brushing. Because they do the brushing for you, many people find them easier to use. Seniors, children, and people with arthritis or other similar conditions may find using an electric toothbrush less difficult.
A 2005 independent study reported that, “Brushes that worked with a rotation oscillation action removed more plaque and reduced gingivitis more effectively than manual brushes in the short and long term.”
Many electric toothbrushes come with convenient features:
- Timers to help you keep track of how long you’re brushing each quadrant of your mouth – this can be very important in keeping you to brushing each quadrant of your mouth for the 30 seconds of brushing it needs!
- Multiple brushing modes specialised for sensitive teeth, whitening benefits or gum-massaging action
- Pressure sensors to avoid too-hard brushing
- Oscillating/pulsating and cupping, oscillating/rotating or sonic technology
Mouth Mirrors. These are elongated mirrors that help show areas you may be missing in your daily routine brushing and flossing. Mirrors can also reveal discoloration or even the presence of some cavities that create sensitive pits in your teeth. They can also be used in conjunction with our next neat piece of dental technology, Dental Plaque Stains.
Dental Plaque Staining. Dental plaque stains helps you identify spots that may not be reached in daily brushing and flossing. At-home plaque staining kits normally contain chewable tablets that can be chewed and spread onto the surfaces of the teeth and then rinsed with water. After chewing, spreading, and rinsing, the tablets leave dye that clings to areas of teeth that still have plaque. This allows you to identify the areas of your teeth that you are missing.
Oral Irrigators. Oral irrigators shoot a stream of water into hard-to-reach places between and around teeth. Oral irrigators are particularly useful for braces wearers, or people with fixed partial dentures.
Interdental Cleaners. These brushlike wands squeeze in between teeth and other tight spaces in the mouth. These are recommended for patients who with extensive fillings, crowns or bridges, orthodontic patients or patients with some periodontal conditions. They are not usually recommended for infants or children as incorrect usage may damage their gums.
Tongue Scrapers. A tongue scraper is a dental tool that cleans the tongue. The scraper is pulled across the surface of the tongue, from front to back, and it removes food, bacteria, etc. from the top of the tongue.
Toothbrush Sanitizer. A toothbrush sanitizer keeps your toothbrush from becoming infested with bacteria. Many of us brush our teeth in the bathroom, not exactly the cleanest room in our house. Some sanitizers kill up to 99% of the bacteria on your toothbrush.
Toothbrush Timer App. There’s an app for everything, right? Dental care is no different. Both Android and iPhones have apps that guide users through a ‘perfect’ toothbrushing, which includes the phases of brushing, where and when to brush, and when your toothbrush needs replacing. Perhaps the best feature is the built-in timer that alerts you that 30 seconds are up, and it is time to brush the next section of your mouth.
Zip Rings: Zip Rings are answers to the difficulties of flossing. They allow you to control dental floss with just one finger on one hand. Zip Rings also reduce floss wastage by 50% and makes it much easier to floss in difficult-to-reach locations.
These are only some of the cool tools that you can use to improve your oral hygiene regimen. At Alex Bratic Dental Care we can discuss these tools, other tools, and your general dental health. Give us a call!
Comfort, Convenience, and Excellent Care at Alex Bratic Dental Care
Alex Bratic Dental Care in Beenleigh delivers the very best in dental services to patients of all ages. If you, your child, or a family member needs a smile fix, or just a checkup, we’re here for you!
Alex Bratic Dental Care is located on City Road near the Pacific Motorway near Beenleigh Station, with convenient public transport nearby and free onsite parking.
Call (07) 3287 2627 or visit us at 113 City Road in Beenleigh.
