Dental emergencies are never a pleasant experience. They’re painful, interrupt your schedule, and can require involved treatment — they’re best avoided if possible. On the other hand, people don’t always know what keeps them at bay. Just how do you avoid a dental emergency?
Your local dentists at Aspen Hill can help. Read the four tips listed below so you won’t have to spend time at the emergency dentist’s office!
Practice Regular Dental Care
The most obvious way to prevent dental emergencies is to practice good dental hygiene.
As you always should, remember to brush your teeth twice daily with fluoride toothpaste. Since it’s best to avoid rushing it, do so for two minutes. You also might rinse your mouth afterward.
Similarly, floss your teeth at least once a day. It will remove unwanted food particles and reduces the chance of tooth decay and gum disease.
Prevent Accidents
Another way to avoid dental emergencies is to adopt safety precautions. For example, people can prevent harm to their teeth by wearing a seatbelt in a car.
One great way of preventing tooth damage is by wearing a mouthguard during physical activities. After all, many dental injuries occur when playing sports. You can avoid these incidents with a comfortable mouthguard that doesn’t obstruct breathing.
Eat a Healthy Diet
While it’s already good for nutritional health, a healthy diet will significantly help your dental health too.
Start by cutting down on sugary foods and drinks. Combined with natural mouth bacteria, sugar creates acid that damages tooth enamel. Specifically, the acid strips your teeth of essential minerals and weakens them overall. In some cases, the acid can even cause cavities. Reducing your sugar intake will lower your mouth’s acidity and therefore stop such enamel loss.
Try eating mouth-healthy foods like apples, carrots, celery, or nuts as a substitute for sugar.
Take Note of Pain(s) or Changes
To keep minor issues from becoming worse, regularly track the condition of your mouth. Observing your teeth, gums, and mouth tissues can help identify underlying problems.
Mouth pain would be a significant sign that something is wrong. Don’t assume the pain’s going away means you’re ok either, as severe tooth infections are still present even after destroying a tooth’s nerves. You’ll want to seek professional treatment for it.
While there’s no sure-fire way to stop dental emergencies from happening, the above tips will drastically lower the odds. That said, practice them consistently to enjoy a clean, healthy smile for as long as possible!
About the Practice
The Dental Center of Aspen Hill is based in Silver Spring, MD. Led by several excellent dentists, their team champions personalized patient care that uses advanced dental technology. To that end, they offer preventive, cosmetic, and comprehensive dentistry, as well as emergency dental services. Overall, they’re ready and eager to serve patients of all ages, whether 5 or 95! For more information or to book an appointment, they can be reached at their website or by phone at (301)-871-6660.