How To Improve Your Smile: 10 Tips

It is nothing but the truth. Your smile is one of the first things that attracts people to you. It is what gets you noticed. However, a perfect, healthy smile is not achieved overnight but requires several methods to create and maintain. This article highlights ten essential tips on how to improve your smile. 

How To Improve Your Smile: Floss Daily

You are flossing washes off plaque between the teeth and under your gumlines. Remember that your toothbrush cannot reach your gumlines. By flossing daily, you prevent gingivitis and tooth decay. However, if left untouched, tartar and plaque build-up beneath the surface of the gumlines. This results in periodontal disease, which leads to tooth loss and bone destruction.

Here’s how to floss properly:

Wrap the floss around your finger. Ensure that the wrapping is tight. Next, insert the floss into the space between your teeth. Slide it gently under the gumlines twice or thrice. Bleeding that occurs during flossing may be due to gum disease or gingivitis. When you floss daily, the bleeding caused by mild to moderate gingivitis usually stops after weeks.

If you’re not used to flossing, use an oral irrigator. An oral irrigator sprays mouthwash or water to flush food or plaque between your teeth and underneath your gumline. 

How To Improve Your Smile: Visit Your Hygienist At Least Twice A Year

Regular cleanings (at least every six months) promote good oral health and a unique smile. However, periodic cleanings can encourage the development of periodontal disease. This can cause a slight swelling, receding, and bleeding of your gums. Swollen or bleeding gums are also associated with health conditions such as stroke, heart attack, obesity, sleep apnea, premature births, and diabetes.

Apart from removing tartar and stains from your teeth, your dental hygienist will examine you for health conditions like oral cancer and high blood pressure. Since most health conditions manifest orally, your hygienist and dentist will ensure that you know all underlying issues and even refer you to a specialist.

How To Improve Your Smile: Avoid Smoking

Smoking stains your teeth. The stain from smoke may sometimes be superficial and can be polished off. In other cases, these stains might penetrate the enamel. 

Smoking causes damage to your gums. It causes your gums to recede and create large pockets around your teeth. This gives your teeth a more extended appearance and creates dark spaces. It is also important to note that gum disease is irreversible in people who smoke.

How To Improve Your Smile: Limit Your Intake Of Coffee, Tea, And Red Wine

Drinks like tea, red wine, and coffee are known for their teeth staining potential. Like smoking, these drinks can create a superficial stain that your hygienist or dentist can easily polish off. But they can as well stain the internal parts of your tooth enamel.

You can reduce the stain by drinking through a straw. Straw drinking also helps reduce the risk of tooth decay. Rinsing your mouth frequently also helps prevent the dark liquid from sitting in your mouth for long periods.

How To Improve Your Smile: Be Careful With The Kind Of Whitening Products That You Use

There are various whitening products on the market. It all depends on your needs. Examples of whitening products include custom trays, over-the-counter trays, strips, toothpaste, rinses, laser whitening, and gel pens. As overwhelming as the choices may be, each type of whitening product can be beneficial in unique ways, helping you to target specific areas with issues. Whitening toothpaste and rinses are good for tea and coffee drinkers. Gel pens help to clean up small spaces. Laser whitening and custom trays provide professional teeth whitening and offer outstanding results.

How To Improve Your Smile: Brush Your Teeth With Quality Toothbrushes 

Clinical studies have shown that electric toothbrushes are more efficient at plaque removal. Electric toothbrushes can also help you achieve healthy gums compared to the standard manual brushes. In addition, many electric toothbrushes now have whitening modes and can last for several years.

How To Improve Your Smile: Drink An Adequate Amount Of Water Daily

Water is healthy for your smile and your body. Water flushes the teeth clean and discourages tooth decay. Tap water is the most recommended choice of water. Tap water contains just the correct dosage of fluoride. Fluoride promotes dental health and prevents tooth decay. Frequent intake of sugary drinks can cause a spike in decay rates.

How To Improve Your Smile: Brush Your Teeth Twice Daily

This is a standard. Unfortunately, many people tend to forget this rule the most. It would help if you brushed your teeth twice a day. Plaque usually hardens into tartar. So, brushing your teeth frequently will help them stay healthier and whiter than those who do not brush regularly.

How To Improve Your Smile: Treat Any Underlying Health Condition

Conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and bruxism can affect the appearance of your smile and your dental health as well. When a particular health condition strains your body, it becomes difficult to train the other.

Instead of hiding the symptoms, why not try out some preventive methods. Healthy eating and adequate exercise can dramatically improve the appearance of your gums, teeth, and body.

How To Improve Your Smile: Get Professional Treatment Promptly

Dental conditions do not correct on their own. For example, when left untreated, tooth decay can trigger the development of a tooth abscess from a very tiny cavity. The cavity would have been filled with a small filling, but your dentist now requires a crown and a root canal because it was left unattended.

Early treatment of tooth decay means you will have less invasive and smaller dental restorations. This will keep your teeth stable, maintain their structure and minimize treatment costs.