Oral Care & Hygiene
Asheboro, NC
 Most of general health revolves around good maintenance, upkeep, and prevention. Eating well, avoiding excessive alcohol, getting a good night’s rest, and getting exercise can keep your health in good order. Often overlooked, however, is the importance of maintaining a good standing in dental health as a whole. There are many ways to keep your mouth healthy, which will in turn help keep the rest of your body in its highest working order. At Randolph Center for Dental Excellence we can help keep your teeth and mouth in its best shape.
Understanding Tooth and Gum Decay
In order to understand best how to keep your dental health in pristine condition, it is important to understand why we prioritize dental health in the first place. Hard tissue decay, or tooth decay is any decay that involves teeth and the bone tissue around teeth. Over time and with use, our teeth see a host of different bacteria and substances that corrode and wear down teeth. When bacteria build up, it can cause cavities which can continue to wear the tooth and infect the root, requiring costly repairs down the road.
Soft tissue decay typically refers to the gums but can include the tongue and linings of the mouth. Without proper care, bacteria can grow on the gums, causing them to wear down over time and potentially allowing certain infections to spread, or lead to tooth loss, similarly to cavities.
What You Can Take Care of at Home
While the ramifications of prolonged neglect seem scary, rest assured it is preventable through good oral hygiene habits like brushing and flossing. The American Dental Association recommends brushing your teeth for two minutes twice per day in order to keep teeth healthy. By brushing with a toothbrush and toothpaste, bacteria are cleaned out from the mouth.
While brushing can remove a lot of bacteria, flossing is another way to keep your teeth their cleanest where tooth brushes might not be able to reach. Ideally, you should floss twice a day before brushing to maximize cleaning potential.
What We Can Take Care of in Office
Finally, aside from preventative care, there are routine dental exams and dental cleanings, as well as fillings if necessary. Dental exams are required once every six months, or twice per year. A dental exam is how we determine your overall dental health. From gums, to tongue, and teeth, dental exams examine any potential buildup of plaque, or any infections or cavities that may be present. We may also take x-rays of your teeth to look for any problems that might not appear on the surface.
A dental cleaning is used to get rid of plaque buildup around the teeth and gums that is hard to wear down at home. Using a special tool and paste, we remove the plaque and apply a fluoride treatment to the teeth to ensure their strength.
In the unfortunate event that a cavity is present, you can rest assured that dental fillings are simple procedures. During a filling, the tooth decay is repaired with a durable amalgam filling that will fill in a cleaned cavity and prevent it from decaying any further.
Dental exams, cleanings, and fillings can keep your oral health at its best. For the best added benefit, though, the easier portion of dental health starts at home. For any general dental health questions, contact us here at Randolph Center for Dental Excellence at today, and we would be happy to help you.
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