A healthy mouth creates a healthy body. Taking care of your teeth is the single preventive measure that you can do yourself. According to the ADA, 50% of the population don’t go to the dentist because they believe that their mouths are healthy.

Here are plenty of natural ways to keep your gums and teeth healthy. Dr. Madhvi Nagpal provides you the easiest to do at home steps for your teeth.

1. Brush Your Teeth

Brushing twice a day is extremely important for your overall health of the mouth. You should do it properly for about 1-2 minutes. Make sure your toothbrush is replaced after every 6 months.

How to Brush?

  • For making it a habit, start your brushing on the back of your mouth. Follow the same routine every time.
  • Hold a brush at a 45-degree angle.
  • Brush in a stroke downwards from the gum in order to loosen the plaque and debris.
  • Don’t forget to clean the back surfaces of your teeth.
  • Brushing the biting surfaces to remove the food particles is important.
  • Soft bristles and gentle strokes should be kept in mind always.
  • Avoid over-brushing.

2. Floss

Flossing is the most important thing to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. Floss helps us clean the most difficult surfaces of teeth that are contact areas. People overlook this simple task and don’t do it correctly.

How to Floss?

  • Cut about 18-24 inches floss from the dispenser.
  • Wrap the ends of floss around your thumb and fingers.
  • Hold the floss tightly in a C shape around each tooth beneath the gumline.
  • Move the floss in up-down and pull-push motion.

3. Take Care of Your Tongue

Cleaning of the tongue helps in improving oral health. Get a stainless-steel tongue scraper which makes cleaning much easier. Tongue scraping will remove the bacterial growth on the tongue that leads to bad breath, tooth decay, and other oral problems.

How to Scrape?

  • Make sure to do it after brushing.
  • Place the scraper at the back of your tongue, then pull it to the front edge of your tongue and then discard the deposits.
  • Repeat this twice gently and not hurting your taste buds.

4. Drink Water

An average person needs to drink almost 8 glasses of water daily to stay hydrated. Besides this, water also helps in washing away food and bacteria present in your mouth.

Water produces saliva which neutralizes the acidic present in your mouth that weakens teeth and erodes enamel. Rinse your mouth with water after every meal.

5. Oil Pulling

It is a traditional Ayurvedic remedy that has gained popularity. It can be done with coconut oil, sesame oil, olive oil or sunflower oil. Oil pulling removes toxins from the body. It keeps teeth, mouth, gums and entire body healthy.

How to Oil-Pull?

  • Take 1tbsp of oil in your mouth.
  • Swish it around for about 10-15minutes.
  • Spit it in the garbage without swallowing the oil.
  • Rinse with water.
  • It is best to be done on an empty stomach early in the morning.
  • Initially swish for about 1-2 minutes and when you can, do it for 10-20 minutes.

6. Watch Your Diet

A healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables should be eaten for a healthy body and teeth. Biting on raw fruits and vegetables removes plaque as you chew.

Munching on apples, pears, carrots, etc. helps make teeth strong and have a major effect on teeth by triggering saliva and washing away food debris from your teeth.

Try adding onion, celery, yogurt, strawberries to your diet as it strengthens the tooth enamel. Following a diet high in calcium will make teeth stronger and your bones too.

7. Limit Sugary Foods and Drinks

Eating too much of chocolates, sugar candy, chips, etc. lingers on tooth surfaces cause tooth decay and sensitivity. Sugary drinks including soft drinks and fruit juices are also a threat.

Carbonated drinks make things worse by increasing acidity. Bacteria present in plaque convert sugar into acids. It will make the enamel, soft and weak over time.

8. Take Advantage of Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices are known to clean the mouth and freshen the breath. They have antibacterial properties which keep teeth and gums healthy. The following can be used-

  • Clove – It cures tooth pain.
  • Aloe Vera – It can be applied in the areas of gum inflammation, except it tastes bitter
  • Mint Leaves – Helps freshen breath.
  • Turmeric – Its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties control plaque and prevent gingivitis.
  • Herbal, red, white or green tea also keeps plaque away from developing. They are known to be excellent palate cleansers. It is best to have them after dinner.

9. Add Natural Supplements

Minerals are important for healthy teeth and gums, diet alone is not enough. Nutrient supplements help fill the gaps.

  • Vitamin A, C, D and K
  • Magnesium
  • Fluoride
  • Cod Liver Oil
  • Gelatin

10. Keep Away from Tobacco

It will be a great favor for your teeth if you quit smoking. Tobacco has some surprising effects on the teeth. It stains the teeth yellow with time and increases the risk of gum disease and even oral cancer. It compromises the immune system, making it hard to fight infections.

Regular chewing of tobacco causes abrasion of tooth surfaces, discoloration of teeth and tooth decay. Smoking alters the ability of mouth to generate saliva normally. Therefore, it increases plaque and tartar on the teeth.

11. Avoid Grinding or Clenching Teeth

Grinding or clenching causes trauma to the teeth. If undiagnosed grinders can lose a millimeter of tooth structure per year. On the other hand, clenching puts a destructive pressure on the teeth.

It slowly breaks the bone around teeth, causing a recession, bone loss, etc. Wearing a night guard will prevent all the ill-effects.

12. Get Regular Checkups

It is recommended by the experts to have a dental checkup every 6 months. If you have gum disease, then every 3 months. A regular appointment will make the dentist remove all your build-up plaque and also look for the signs of any tooth decay or gum disease.

Conclusion

By following these tips, you can take care of your teeth naturally and save the expenses of the treatment. If you do not give importance to your teeth, then you won’t have to wait long to see you with no teeth when you age. Having a beautiful smile and healthy teeth is what everyone desires.