Six Tips For Preventing Cavities

  • Home
  • /
  • Blog
  • /
  • Six Tips For Preventing Cavities
six tips for preventing cavities

Getting fillings is often considered a necessary evil. “Evil” or not, it’s only necessary if you develop cavities in the first place. Here are six tips for preventing the development of cavities and, in the bargain, eliminating the need to get fillings.

Brush your teeth regularly

To keep your teeth as free as possible from plaque that will eventually produce tartar and fuel tooth decay, brush your teeth at least twice daily with a fluoridated toothpaste for two minutes each time. The best practice is to brush your teeth after any time you eat — meal or snack. If you’ve eaten but just aren’t in a setting where you can brush your teeth until later, take time to rinse your mouth completely with water.

Supplement your brushing with mouthwash

To do an even better job of preventing the development of tooth decay while also strengthening the health of your teeth, rinse your mouth with mouthwash that contains fluoride after brushing your teeth.

See your dentist for checkups and dental cleanings regularly

However diligently you brush, floss and use mouthwash, tartar will inevitably develop and harden on hard-to-reach areas of your teeth. You won’t be able to remove that tartar yourself at home, and leaving it there will fuel the development of cavities. Attend a dental checkup and have your teeth cleaned by a dentist in Cooper City every six months to enable the complete cleaning of every surface of every tooth and to allow the detection and treatment of any tooth decay.

Consider getting dental sealants

It’s possible to reduce or nearly eliminate the risk of developing dental cavities in Cooper City by asking a dentist near you to apply dental sealants to the most vulnerable teeth — the grooved and pitted biting surfaces of your molars and premolars. Dental sealants are painted onto the surface of teeth in liquid form, but produce a strong shield once dried that prevents food, sugar, starch, acid and bacteria from even coming into contact with your teeth enamel. For 10 years at a time, dental sealants can protect you from the development of cavities in sealed teeth.

Drink water with fluoride

Fluoride prevents tooth decay by remineralizing your teeth to make them as strong and bacteria-resistant as possible. Your dentist will offer to apply fluoride to your teeth and you can get more fluoride exposure from toothpaste and mouthwash, but getting fluoride is even easier than that — just drink tap water if, like most people, you live in a city that fluoridates its water supply.

Even just drinking that water will boost your overall dental health and ability to prevent cavities. Your mouth’s saliva is essential to rinsing potentially harmful bacteria off of your teeth. Drinking water regularly will boost your mouth’s production of saliva to help keep your mouth healthy. Imagine that, you may be able to avoid the need to get fillings for dental cavities near you as simply as by drinking tap water!

What you eat matters, too

You’re probably used to the idea that what you eat matters to your overall health. After all, there’s an indisputable connection between your diet and maintaining a healthy weight and between what you eat and good coronary health. The same principle applies to the health of your teeth: What you eat matters. To keep your teeth as healthy as possible — meaning they’re as capable as possible of resisting tooth decay — eat dairy products (cheese and milk), fresh fruits and vegetables, unsweetened beverages and, if you chew gum, sugar-free gum

Has it been more than six months since you’ve seen a dentist, or are you still looking for a dentist? Get in touch with a dentist near you who can support you in getting and staying healthy, now and going forward.