We’re not brushing correctly. We rarely floss our teeth. We rinse our mouths whenever we feel like it. Let’s not delve into how much sugar we consume on a daily basis.
This inadequate dental routine will stain your teeth, erode the bone in your canines, and even lead to long-term consequences that will cost thousands of dollars to repair. Do you want this to happen? Of course not!
You can avoid this whole disaster by implementing the correct dental practices at home. And there are other things you can do, too, that can make your dentist show off his smile as well.
Here are five mistakes every patient makes according to dentists:
1. Doing a Thorough Clean Before Appointment
Here is a typical scenario for the average dental patient: they have abandoned their new and improved dental hygiene practices and have returned to their old habits. They are brushing once a day, flossing once in a while, and using mouthwash on an irregular basis. This creates problems.
Then, perhaps frightened of what the dentist would say, the person spends a few days before their appointment brushing, flossing, and rinsing several times a day. The dentist won’t be fooled.
A great smile requires frequent brushing, flossing, and rinsing. It won’t work if you ignore it 80 percent of the time, and then suddenly renew your efforts days before your appointment. It doesn’t work.
2. Refusing to Floss Every Day
Would you believe it if we told you that most of the human population doesn’t floss? In fact, according to the experts, only 10 to 15 percent of the planet routinely flosses.
But why?
Well, maybe it’s too much of a hassle. But that’s not a good excuse at all.
That said, flossing should be incorporated into your daily routine, using either waxed floss or sticks. Whatever method you decide to utilize, it is important that you floss all the time. You have no idea how much junk is leftover in your mouth after every meal.
3. Not Making an Appointment Every Six Months
We get it. An appointment with the dentist is time-consuming and eats away at your wallet. However, like regular brushing and flossing, you need to visit your dentist if you want to ensure your teeth, gums, and tongue are in great shape.
Without a trip to the dentist every six months, you risk affecting your dental hygiene.
4. Ignoring a Lingering Dental Issue
Do you feel scraping at the side of your mouth? Do you still have an adult tooth lodged in your gums? Do you feel pain by your molars?
These are common issues that a lot of patients experience. Unfortunately, either because it is too expensive or requires a little bit of downtime, many people decide to delay the inevitability. In other words, they allow their dental problems to linger, allowing the setbacks to snowball. Before you know it, emergency surgery is necessary or your procedure will cost even more in the end.
Simply put: do not let a dental issue linger by ignoring it.
5. Arriving Late to an Appointment
Again, we understand that a trip to the dentist or a visit with your dental hygienist requires a lot of time, not just the appointment but getting to the dental clinic, too.
This doesn’t justify arriving late to an appointment.
Because dental clinics have other patients, your tardiness could risk pushing back other patients, producing a significant backlog for dentists, assistants, and hygienists. For instance, if you arrive to your 9:30 a.m. appointment at 10 a.m., then the 10:15 appointment is pushed back to 10:45, the 10:45 is pushed back to 11:30, and it goes on and on.
Here is a bit of advice: arrive to every appointment 15 minutes early.
Not too many people enjoy going to the dentist, but it’s something that we just need to do twice a year – it doesn’t mean you need to like it. In addition to regularly seeing the dentist, you must employ healthy dental hygiene practices that will make your pearly whites shine like never before. It all starts at home, even if it imbibes 15 minutes out of your evening.
