4 New Year’s Resolutions To Help You Maintain Better Oral Health in 2016!

With a new year comes the one thing that most people make, but rarely are able to follow through – New Year’s resolutions! And, of course, we’re going to offer to help you make quite a few that will go a long way in improving your oral health this 2016.

Now, making these resolutions won’t be easy, keeping them even more so. But, if you want to be able to show off healthier and much better-looking teeth all year round, you may want to make a serious commitment to these.

1. I resolve to brush my teeth after every meal and floss, at least, once a day.

Brushing your teeth properly takes about two to three minutes and if done the recommend three times a day, that’s around 10 minutes in total. Flossing once or twice adds a minute or two there, leading to a total of 12 minutes every day.

That’s a few minutes less than a quarter of an hour that you should dedicate solely to taking proper care of your teeth. Not that much, when you think about it, right?

The effects, though, are enormous. Brushing and flossing are the two MOST important things that you can do to maintain healthy and good-looking teeth.

Flossing, in particular, should be done regularly as it helps remove any remaining plaque in between your teeth that couldn’t be removed through brushing regularly. Plaque, if left alone, will cause cavities, gum disease and a bunch of other dental problems.

Also, make it a point to brush with fluoride toothpaste because fluoride helps improve the structural integrity of your teeth, while at the same time, makes it more resistant to tooth decay.

2. I resolve to rid myself of the fear or anxiety of going to the dentist.

Regardless of what it is you’re afraid of when going to the, make your resolve to rid yourself of it this 2016.

This is much easier said than done, but it is possible and many others have done it in the past. The secret here is to talk to your dentist about it.

Don’t worry, your dentist surely has had similar patients before, so dental anxiety and even fear are not new to them. Also, if pain is your problem, modern dentistry has a lot of ways to make sure that you feel little to no pain while undergoing any kind of procedure.

Then again, if you’re truly afraid of going to the dentist to the point that the thought of sitting in the dental chair is enough to give you sleepless nights, don’t worry. Again, you’re not alone and your dentist, again, can help you with this by easing you through things or by referring you to a mental health practitioner.

Either way, what’s important is that you make a resolve to do something about your fear of the dentist.

3. I resolve to visit the dentist more often.

The next time you plan your schedule throughout the year, try to include dental visits, at least, twice or thrice.

Brushing and flossing properly are both very important, but sometimes, they just aren’t enough to remove all the plaque from your teeth.

Regular visits to your dentist for regular cleaning will help rid your teeth of anything that brushing and flossing can’t. Also, these trips will allow dentists to check your teeth for any issues so that they can be dealt with immediately.

4. I resolve to quit chewing tobacco, or smoking.

Smokers are twice more likely to lose teeth earlier than non-smokers. The same goes for those who chew tobacco. This, along with a wide slew of other negative effects both have on your oral health – cavities, discoloration in teeth, gum loss, gum disease, throat, lung and oral cancer – are more than enough of a reason for you to stop.

The time to keep your New Year’s resolutions is now, and the four New Year’s resolutions listed above will help improve your oral health immensely. Your oral health is extremely important, so don’t wait another day to get started with these New Year’s resolutions.

Call Dr. Graham E. Farless DDS today for more information on oral health at 336-282-2868 or visit his website at www.gsodentist.com.