Go to the dentist, and brush your teeth. That’s it.
Not really. There is much more that goes into having great dental hygiene and a healthy smile.
As downtown Orlando’s top dentist, Your Downtown Dentistry offers a wide variety of dental services, administering each with as much care as the next. We are all about providing exceptional value for our customers, without sacrificing any quality or excellence.
For example, our New Patient Special is going on right now is an incredible value find. For $99, adults receive an exam, x-rays, oral cancer screening, and a cleaning. Our New Patient Special for kids offers an exam, x-rays, cleaning, topical fluoride treatment, and oral hygiene instructions. All of that for just $50! And although it is a limited-time offering, the special points to to our commitment to finding a solution for our clients that is both affordable and of the highest quality.
Cosmetic Dentist Services
Before we dive too far into the topic of today, it should be noted that Dr. Ali Behzadi is a preeminent Adult Cosmetic Dentist of Orlando. As a testament to the passion that Dr. Behzadi has for his craft, he continues to be educated at The Dawson Institute, one of the top dental education facilities in the country. Among the cosmetic dental services offered are:
- Invisalign
- Teeth Whitening
- DURAthin Prepless Veneers
- Smile Design
- Porcelain Veneers
But on to today’s topic: everyday tips and tricks for getting or keeping a healthy smile, outside of spending an extra three dollars on the fanciest looking teeth whitening toothpaste the grocery store has to offer. Read on if you are ready to find some supplemental habits that could help to a degree!
White Strips
Many of our readers may have already tried this approach, but in truth they can be very effective. There are other products that are similar in appearance and function as well. Look for products with a mix of whitening peroxide and tooth-fortifying fluoride. Whitening gum, however, is a ruse. Don’t mess with it unless you plan on pressing it down on your teeth with your tongue for hours at a time. That is what you would have to do if you wanted there to be sufficient contact with the active whitening ingredients with the surface area of your beautiful teeth.
Don’t Do This
If you are in the middle of a teeth whitening routine, you must not drink coffee or red wine. Really, don’t drink or eat anything that stains your teeth, because if you are using peroxide, that means the actual pores of your teeth are open for business, and they don’t’ discriminate about what kind of substance is welcome inside. So keep in mind that if you are using peroxide, it can do great good, but could also set you back in your quest for a beautiful, white smile.
Oil Pulling
While we don’t officially or professionally endorse any of these techniques to any individual, oil pulling is an ancient Indian method which has gained some footing in the west of late. Oil pulling involves swirling coconut oil, sunflower oil, or sesame oil around in your mouth for twenty to thirty minutes, typically, to help eliminate bacteria and release plaque buildup that said bacteria has caused (plaque is the waste of bacteria, generally speaking). Many people use coconut oil for their oil pulls because of the refreshing taste and its capability to reduce inflammation and kill bacteria. While this isn’t part of traditional dental care, preliminary studies have indicated that oil pulling does reduce oral bacteria, plaque, and even gingivitis! It might be worth a shot. “Pull!”
Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar has been a generational solution as a disinfectant and a cleaning product. With the help of modern technology, we now understand that it’s apple cider vinegar’s active ingredient acetic acid which targets the bacteria itself. One study tested the bleaching effectiveness (and other side effects) of apple cider and white vinegar weighed against hydrogen peroxide and deionized water (as a control group). The findings of the research team from China were as follows: “White vinegar, apple vinegar and hydrogen peroxide have bleaching effects on teeth, but white vinegar may cause higher levels of damage to the hardness and surface configuration of teeth.” So white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are empirically effective to whiten teeth, but must be used in caution, given the propensity of such agents to also alter the hardness of one’s teeth.
Watch What You Eat
Eating raw fruits and vegetables is a good idea for your body’s health in general, but eating items like raw carrots, apples, and nuts are hard enough to serve as a cleaning agent on your teeth. They effectively remove surface stains and plaque, which in turn leaves you with a brighter smile and a reduced risk of getting a dreadful cavity.
As we mentioned before, be careful about your coffee and red wine intake, especially if you are using a treatment with peroxide as an active ingredient. But you should also avoid drinking energy drinks consistently, because that will cause plaque to build up more quickly than most anything else we could think of. If you have to get your taurine fix to function, you can use a straw which will bypass your teeth to some degree.
Finally, you should avoid dark foods, if you really want to sell out to the cause. While this might be getting into the realms of the extreme, you should at least be aware of the fact that foods with dark pigment can cause staining. All things in moderation, however. We don’t want people going around saying their favorite Orlando dentist told them to only eat lightly colored food or something. Because we will categorically deny that. Alright, let’s move on.
Floss
While it might not be as sexy or innovative as some of the previously mentioned options, there aren’t many more effective techniques than good, old-fashioned flossing. People have more trouble flossing than brushing, generally speaking, but that doesn’t mean that it is any less important. Many authorities in the field agree that flossing is quite possibly more vital to your overall oral health than brushing your teeth. Flossing twice a day is best practice if you are serious about removing the plaque build-up and achieving a whiter smile.
Why Should You Care?
While there is no replacement for a dental cleaning at least twice per year, there are techniques which can help you get or keep a radiant smile. Just because we look at teeth all day doesn’t mean we can’t see the forest for the trees, either; a beautiful smile is a white, plaque-free smile. Having a whiter smile has been shown to increase your attractiveness to the opposite sex too, if you are into that sort of thing.
If that isn’t enough reason to stop rubbing candy on your teeth before bedtime, try this one on: “Having a whiter smile highlights personal self-image and leaves a memorable mark on the interview” – Dr. Arthur Glosman, Dentist. But wait, who is Dr. Glosman? and what interview are we talking about? Dr. Glosman is a dentist, like we said, and we are talking about your next interview. Yes, that’s right. Having a whiter smile can leave a positive impression by making you stand out as an individual. It’s not unfair to say that a whiter smile indicates, perhaps on a subconscious level, that this is a person who is mature and disciplined, because they have great oral health. Great oral health is a long term commitment to being fastidious with your flossing, dental cleanings, teeth brushing, and whatever your Orlando dentist recommends.
Your Downtown Dentistry
At the end of the day, you want to be with a dentist that you can trust. We offer our recommendations so that our clients can decide the best route for them. Whether you choose our professional teeth whitening option, or choose to go a teeth bleaching or whitening route that is more self-governed, we want to be a trusted resource for you. As downtown Orlando’s top cosmetic dentist, Dr. Behzadi, along with all of us at Your Downtown Dentistry, hope that you consider us the next time you are in need of teeth whitening services, or any kind of dental service. Get in touch with us today!