I was one of those kids who always had cavities when they went to the dentist. I used to blame my genetics. It is almost certainly true that my teeth morphology and other factors didn’t help my situation. However, my lifestyle choices didn’t help my case.
I consumed a ton of sugar growing up (and still do to some extent). I used to start my day with four Eggo waffles with Nutella. My roommate and I used to crush a box of Oreos with a tall glass of milk almost every night. We also had a tall glass of Five Alive with every meal. It didn’t help that I drank one or two Gatorade or protein shake per day.
All of this might seem excessive from the outside perspective. At the time though, we were simply hyperactive teenagers who needed to consume a shit load of calories to maintain or try to gain weight. Needless to say that we were always eating.
In hindsight, it is clear that my lifestyle factors did not help my dental situation. I did not floss nor did I use mouth wash. I used a manual toothbrush and even skipped the odd brushing.
I have been experimenting with many things over the last ten years and here are the habits and tricks that stuck.
Dental Notes
- Use an electric tooth brush (affiliate link).
- Any will do.
- I prefer ones with a two-minute timer. The pulse every 30 seconds also helps me cover all four quadrants.
- This is one of those one-time actions that will have disproportionate payoffs in the long term.
- Floss daily.
- You can do it before bed if you only do it once per day.
- I do not enjoy flossing just with the floss wrapped around my fingers.
- I use a reusable floss pick to reduce my flossing footprint (affiliate link).
- I always keep a few floss picks in my car.
- Mouth wash daily.
- I use the Listerine Total Care rinse (affiliate link).
- I also started using the fluoride solution once per week to really get my cavitie situation under control (affiliate link).
- Eat less often.
- It takes significant time for the mouth to clean itself. If you are always snacking or sipping on a sugary latte, your mouth will always have sugars stuck to your teeth.
- You can eat as often as you want but either brush your teeth shortly after you ingest foods or chew on sugar-free gum to clean your mouth.
- I enjoy this type of gum (affiliate link). I always keep one in my car, backpack, and pantry shelf.
- Cheving gum can also limit the amount of undesired snacking that you do.
- You can use baking soda to whiten your teeth.
- My dental hygenist recomended the following to remove some of the stains on my teeth (affiliate link).
- This one is relevant to me since I drink a pot of tea almost every day.
Closing Thoughts
I used habit-stacking to establish my night-time routine of brushing, flossing, and rinsing my mouth daily. Our dental health not only affects our overall health but also affects how we feel about ourselves.
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