Your mother probably taught you to brush your teeth and floss morning and night. As you got older you probably thought adding mouthwash into the mix was assisting with your oral hygiene, let’s take a look and see if that is the case.
Whether you have an important meeting, or you have a bad taste in your mouth; we’ve all had those days where mouthwash gives you that extra bit of confidence. Did you know that if you follow the basic dental hygiene standards to brush your teeth that mouthwash is not required, and even not recommended?
What does your local dentist recommend?
Brush your teeth at least twice daily using a soft brush. Apply ample pressure to the brush at the gumline. Brush every part of your teeth including your tongue, and ensure you remove all the bacteria and debris from your teeth.
If you neglect to floss you will be missing approximately 40% of your teeth’s surface, so it is important to ensure this is part of your daily oral hygiene.
Once you’ve finished brushing and flossing your teeth you’re finished. But you might be asking, what about the mouthwash?
Should I be using mouthwash?
At Advanced Dental Care Clinic in Oxenford we are firm believers in a good oral hygiene regiment, and mouthwash is not part of that.
Why don’t we recommend mouthwash?
- It is common knowledge that excessive alcohol can cause oral cancer, and many mouthwashes have a high content of alcohol in them.
- Your mouth is full of bacteria, both good and bad; however, mouthwashes aren’t savvy enough to work out what bacteria to remove from your mouth, so you might find the good bacteria is removed, leaving your mouth open to attack from plaque and decay.
- Mouthwashes are notorious for drying your mouth out, and in the absence of saliva your teeth could be more prone to decay.
- Mouthwash can give you the illusion of a clean mouth; however, in reality you are masking the real problem and not solving it. If you’re using mouthwash to freshen your breath, why? Brushing your teeth properly should suffice, could it be that you aren’t brushing correctly, or is it that you have decay or plaque? It is always best to find the root of the issue instead of trying to mask it.
- A mouthwashes shelf life comes at a cost, and that is the addition of acidic stabilising agents. The acids in mouthwash will eat away at the protective enamel on your teeth, which can lead to decay.
- Mouthwashes contain chemicals, why would you put chemicals in your mouth?
At Advanced Dental Care Clinic in Oxenford on the Gold Coast, we believe in educating our clients to make the right decisions. Doing the right thing doesn’t have to cost more, we believe a good manual toothbrush and a fluoride rich toothpaste along with flossing will keep teeth healthier and stronger for longer.
There are only two mouthwashes that we recommend to our clients, one is Curasept for periodontal disease and non-alcoholic fluoride rinse for the prevention of decay and sensitivity.
Your local dentist in Oxenford
Talk to your local dentists at Advanced Dental Care Clinic in Oxenford on the Gold Coast and we can discuss the best oral care plan for you. Our dentists pride themselves on ensuring every client has a thorough understanding of how best to care for their teeth. Call 07 5580 3555 and book an appointment today.
