Gum Disease
Brushing your teeth every night
Things we do REGULARLY are habits and when we break a habit, it is common that the activity becomes rarer and rarer, think of going to the gym. So, often the occasional lapse of a night time tooth brushing session can become pretty permanent! Before you know it , you become a ‘once a day’ toothbrusher! Is not brushing your teeth every night really so bad ?
YES
Most people start every day with a shower AND cleaning their teeth. Otherwise, they would feel dirty throughout the day. During the day, plaque and food debris inevitably accumulate around all the teeth surfaces. So imagine going to bed WITH all that stuff sitting around your teeth for a further seven or eight hours. This effectively doubles the amount of time the plaque has to wreak its damage on the teeth and gums.
So if you run your tongue around, say, the outside of the upper front teeth surfaces last thing in the evening, you feel they are not smooth but have a bit of a ‘furry’ layer. Try doing the same the following morning if you haven’t removed that layer the evening beforehand. It will feel twice as rough and furry and really dirty!
And the damage?
A) Significantly increased likelihood of bleeding gums (gum disease).
B) Any existing cavities in teeth, leakage around any fillings, or de-calcification in the tooth enamel will progress much faster .
C) Tooth staining builds up much faster, making the teeth darker .
D) Increased bad breath (halitosis) .
E) Significant reduction in sexual attractiveness to a sleeping partner ( pretty obviously)!
F) Reduces the value of your expensive electric toothbrush (which you should be using) because it is being used much less than its maximum potential.
Enough reasons to brush your teeth every night?
Oh…and a few thoughts about mouth rinses and expensive toothpastes that make the most amazing claims (rebuilding the enamel etc. !)
- Mouth rinses may be fairly beneficial particularly those containing Chlorhexidine ( eg Corsodyl), but only if you don’t follow the rinse with swilling your mouth out with water! If you do, you are washing out all the mouth rinse .
- Most toothpastes are principally mild tooth abrasives. Adding all sorts of additional chemical ingredients ( particularly fluoride) does no harm. However , how long does the toothpaste containing all these miracle ingredients stay in contact with the teeth? About two minutes before it is all washed out of the mouth with a good thorough rinse! That doesn’t exactly give it much time to work its wonders . So perhaps the claims need to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Quite simply, nothing beats an effective, thorough physical tooth brushing (preferably with a good quality electric toothbrush) AND cleaning between all the teeth with floss, gum massagers or teepee brushes…….TWICE A DAY .
