Brushing and Flossing Techniques (1983)

for the mouth nothing tells more about us than this one feature we laugh with it we talk with it we kiss with it and we eat with it our teeth are important but they're not indestructible without care they can become diseased and painful and the biggest cause of tooth pain is sugar-loving bacteria bacteria are always present in our mouths as they break down food they produce acid and acid is a tooth's worst enemy acid attacks the tough outer enamel of the tooth roughening the surface eventually a hole erodes and a cavity has begun at first a cavity is often painless we don't always notice it until the Decay spreads deeper but once it reaches the live nerve center the pulp the tooth AE can be Agony ultimately the tooth may even die and all due to bacterial acid besides acid certain bacteria also produce a sticky film called plaque that clings to tooth surfaces normally invisible to the naked eye this plaque holds the bacteria and their acids tightly against the teeth in a slimy plaque mesh work gradually more plaque collects around and between the teeth in the back corners of the mouth and just under the gum line if plaque is allowed to accumulate especially in pockets of the gum under the surface it can lead to real problems like periodontal disease periodontal disease is serious more serious than cavities especially for people in their teens and older it attacks the gum tissue surrounding the teeth and can even destroy the bone that supports the teeth now for the good news plaque is a problem we can do something about but we've got to do it right when you look at all these people brushing you may not realize it but only a few of them are brushing correctly the others are just rushing through it as if this was a race called the 32 to dash that's simply not good enough plaque is tough if we're going to get rid of as much of it as possible we've got to work at it the right way let's find out how an expert does it first of all we want to know where the plaque bacteria is hiding this is what causes the disease so we're going to be chewing a disclosing tablet to find out where the plaque hides and a disclosing tablet looks like this it's a very small red tablet what we're going to do is put it in our mouth crunch it up swish it around and have a peek in the mirror and then we'll be able to see where it's hiding in this case it's pretty obvious the red areas between those two upper teeth now let's do something about it have you looked at your toothbrush lately it may look like this it's flared it's very hard and it doesn't look too nice it's time to get a new toothbrush so we want to use this proper brush here and it has very soft bristles nylon tips and a rounded Edge so it won't damage your gum so we can get at the places where the plaque hides the most as we saw by the disclosing tablets all the red areas were at the gums and between the teeth so we have to do a proper brushing job and to do that we have to do it in an organized fashion going all the way to the back coming around and massaging the gums and using a sweeping action I can show you on this giant model here so we can see very clearly and remember the plaque's invisible so we have to brush all the areas so we don't get any periodontal disease or tooth decay so I'm going to start way at the back and you can see here that I'm just going to massage by placing the brush at an angle facing up and going round and round and back and forth just to circulate the blood flow so we have healthy tissue and then using my wrist sweep away all the debris and plaque that I've loosened up there and just move along in a in a nice fashion over placing my placements rather than jumping way over there then we've missed all the teeth so this is what we're doing of course when we finish the top we do the bottom and it's the same action really brush well at the back so many people Miss back there and it's a very important area when you do the inside we're going to do the same thing but when you get to the front teeth we're going to put the brush in a vertical position massage the gums and brush out because it cleans much better there finally brush your tongue then rinse and you're through even when we do our best job brushing there's still plaque hiding in between our teeth and if we use those disclosing tablets again we'd see the red marks there so we want to get rid of them and the only way to do it is to use the dental floss so we're going to take an arms length of dental floss which you can buy at the drugstore and wrap it around our middle fingers and when we have it wrapped around our our middle fingers not too tight because you don't want the fingers to turn blue you're going to slide it in between your teeth very gently till it reaches the gums and when you look at your gums you'll notice that it's in a vshape and you want to go on one side of the V until there's a little bit of resistance it should never hurt make a c-shape around the tooth and just slide it up and down till it's squeaky clean and then hug the floss down you have to do it on the other side of the V of the Gum as well because there are two surfaces between each tooth and when the floss becomes Freight are soiled will rotate to a new section of floss and keep on going so we're going to do that to all the teeth in a nice order even till you get to the back the back tooth still has to be flossed even though there's no opposing tooth and that has to be once a day now it's going to take a lot of practice you're not going to feel um too comfortable at first doing it but after some practice you can do it in front of the TV while the commercials are on before you go to bed brushing and flossing are well worth the trouble but they're not the easiest skills in the world to learn if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask you should see your dentist or hygienist every 6 months to clean away hidden plaque you just can't reach and to polish your teeth so that bacteria and plaque have fewer places to stick to your dentist may have other suggestions as well like fluoride treatments and maybe hints for a plaque fighting diet that's good just close like your teeth are important and with proper brushing flossing and regular Dental checkups you will help keep them strong and attractive look after your teeth and they'll last a long healthy lifetime w