Brushing your teeth properly for excellent oral hygiene

Laughing is one of the best things in the world - cleaning your teeth is perhaps less so. But a healthy and radiant smile cannot be taken for granted. Our dental health affects our entire well-being.

Studies show that there is a connection between the well-being of teeth and the risk of heart attacks and diabetes. Healthy teeth are therefore not only a question of aesthetics but also serve your own health.

Healthy oral hygiene requires regular and proper care. There are countless ways to treat caries, gingivitis and other dental diseases at the dentist's office.

Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to take care of good oral hygiene yourself in order to save on high dental costs. To maintain the condition of healthy teeth in the long term, thorough and careful care of your teeth is necessary.

The right dental cleaning

The basis for optimal oral hygiene and intact oral flora is proper and thorough tooth cleaning. This involves using the right toothbrush and toothpaste. There are different sizes of toothbrushes and brush heads, be sure to find the correct one. With the right care products and brush size, you can remove plaque and food debris. By removing the plaque, the bad bacteria are deprived of their breeding ground, which prevents plaque and so-called plaque from forming. Not only do your teeth and gums benefit from regular interdental cleaning, but also your tongue, throat and oral mucosa.

Adults should clean their gums and teeth at least twice a day, using only light pressure. To ensure that each tooth is adequately cleaned, a good brushing technique usually requires at least two minutes per cleaning. It is important that you do not press the bristles too hard against the tooth surfaces, so do not scrub. Your tooth necks and gums need gentle handling to avoid sensitive teeth.

It is best to have a fixed order for your regular dental cleaning. For example, start with the upper jaw and work from the centre to the left and right molars. Then comes the lower jaw. But be careful not to forget the inner surfaces and the chewing surfaces, because they also need to be cared for carefully. However, you should not brush your teeth for longer than three minutes in total, because otherwise, the enamel can suffer.

You should also use toothpaste that contains active ingredients against plaque bacteria and fluoride. You can brush your teeth even better with an electric toothbrush, as it is equipped with various assisting techniques. Moreover, interdental brushes should be used to clean the interdental spaces.

For good oral hygiene, it is important that you have your teeth professionally cleaned on a regular basis. You can find out more about this topic in this article.

Clean the spaces between your teeth - but do it right

Toothbrushes are capable of removing most of the plaque from each tooth. However, the bristles usually do not reach the narrow spaces between the teeth and therefore do not clean them sufficiently. Often, however, only the surfaces of the teeth are cleaned with a manual toothbrush.

However, it is also important to perform an interdental cleaning. Many people use mouthwashes to rinse food residues out of fine interdental spaces. However, the results are not satisfactory in terms of plaque and plaque build-up. Yet dental floss, toothpicks and interdental brushes are ideal for reaching tight spaces between the teeth and thus removing plaque and dental plaque. You can buy them from pharmacies and in supermarkets. If dental floss, toothpicks and interdental brushes are integrated into regular interdental cleaning daily, caries and gum inflammation can be prevented in the long term.

Interdental brushes reduce the build-up of bad bacteria and prevent infections in the mouth and gum disease. It is helpful to familiarise children with this so that they learn to use it at an early age and it becomes a matter of course in adulthood. It is also important to keep children's milk teeth healthy.

The floss is gently moved back and forth in the gaps between the teeth without applying firm pressure. Mouth rinses or interdental brushes can be used to supplement flossing and brushing, which additionally kill bacteria and germs. Mouth rinses with chlorhexidine should not be used regularly, however, as this not only fights the bad bacteria but also the good ones.

Clean tongue: Tongue scraper or with a toothbrush?

Very few people use a tongue scraper. But it is precisely on the surface of the tongue that many bacteria and germs get stuck, which can lead to bad breath, caries or periodontitis (inflammation of the gums).

The bacteria and germs are usually located on the back third of the tongue and are not directly removed by a regular toothbrush. By using a tongue scraper - or tongue brush - you can remove plaque and thus also clean your tongue properly.

With the scraper, you can thus maintain good oral hygiene. To support this, you should have your teeth professionally cleaned and checked at least once a year. The dentist can reach and clean hard-to-reach interdental spaces in your mouth.

Brushing your teeth with birch sugar

Are you on the go a lot and still looking for a good way to brush your teeth without a toothbrush? You can chew oral care gum to neutralise harmful acids between meals to prevent tooth decay. Many chewing gums now contain the natural substance "xylitol" - also called birch sugar. These chewing gums are also recommended by dental experts.

Xylitol is extracted from birch bark and has a strong sweetening power. This makes it comparable to normal sugar and it is increasingly used as a sugar alternative. The caries-inhibiting effect of xylitol was proven in Finland as early as the 1970s and has since been confirmed in many studies.

In contrast to normal sugar, xylitol positively affects the teeth and is therefore increasingly used in toothpaste or dental care chewing gum. Xylitol has an alkaline effect in the mouth and is therefore antibacterial. This reduces plaque formation and inhibits the growth of caries-causing bacteria, as they cannot metabolise xylitol and thus no longer have a breeding ground.

Xylitol also reduces the formation of acid in the plaque. A strong reduction in caries has been observed with xylitol consumption. Especially if you are on the go a lot and don't have time to brush your teeth, it helps to at least chew some gum. Chewing gum also stimulates the production of alkaline saliva and reduces bad breath.

Maintain your oral health with ALPINE WHITE

With ALPINE WHITEWhitening Toothpastes which you can get for CHF 19,90 and our other Whitening products, you can maintain your oral hygiene and eliminate discolouration. Our Swiss products also protect against gingivitis, tooth decay and tartar. The products remineralise your tooth enamel and reduce existing tooth sensitivity.

In addition, you can have your teeth professionally cleaned in our Swiss Alpine White Studios by dental hygienists.