Whether you’ve been overly influenced by magazine ads or TV commercials featuring models with their pearly whites in perfectly aligned…
Chances are slim to none that your teeth are 100% perfect. If you made it through the childhood years and sports activities and managed not to chip, otherwise damage or lose a tooth or two along the way, please consider yourself lucky. The teeth you offered the Tooth Fairy in exchange for loose change do not count – we are talking about your permanent teeth.
Regular visits to the dentist help to maintain good dental hygiene and regular check-ups by the dentist and visits to your dental hygienist will keep your teeth healthy and strong and plaque free. You might have been lucky enough to have a stellar smile without the need of braces, but, did you know that once your pesky wisdom teeth decide to put in an appearance, that their emergence can wreak havoc with that beautiful smile? Well more about wisdom teeth later.
You may gaze into the mirror and simply see a set of pearly whites grinning back at you, but those teeth are a little more complex in their composition – more than you probably have ever thought about.
When you think of it, your teeth are challenged every day to withstand icy cold or steaming hot drinks, or to crunch down and pulverize every piece of food that you put into your mouth. We’ve had our current teeth since we outgrew our baby teeth and got the permanent set, and, for some, old cavities or dental issues forced us to get crowns so that our old metal fillings were not so unsightly.
There was a time when your smile was the first thing people noticed about you. And you know what? That hasn’t changed at all! In a recent poll, more than half of the people surveyed put smile at the top of the list as the first thing they notice when they meet someone. Of course, that also means that the lack of smile is also the first thing they notice. If you’re not smiling as much as you should, your dental hygiene routine may be to blame. Good dental hygiene is a must, especially in today’s highly social world. You never know when you’ll be walking around and suddenly run into an old high school buddy, a future business associate, or the love of your life! But that’s only part of the reason for maintaining a good dental hygiene routine. Recent studies have shown a link between oral health and disease, including heart disease and diabetes. That’s why it’s vital to adopt a regular dental hygiene routine early on and carry it through every stage of life.