The importance of oral hygiene

Taking care of your teeth and gums is an important part of caring for your overall health and wellbeing. It can prevent bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease, and ultimately help prevent tooth loss as you get older.¹

But when you’re stressed or feeling off, there may be a temptation to stay in your pyjamas, skip hair washing day and maybe even relax your tooth brushing routine.

“It can be a bit of a spiral,” says Bupa Dentist Dr Malcolm Duff. “It’s not very healthy, and it doesn't help you feel good. You feel better if you're taking care of yourself and it helps you avoid problems in the future.”

Dr Duff says when we’re stressed, oral hygiene probably isn’t as high on the agenda as it should be. This can put you at risk of tooth decay and gum disease.

“When you're stressed, the hormone balance in the body changes and the effect of this is a reduction of saliva in the mouth,” he says. “A frequently dry mouth will harm the teeth because it allows plaque to build up faster, leading to a higher risk of cavities.”

Stress, Dr Duff adds, can cause ulcers inside your mouth.² “When you have more ulcers, you may not brush your teeth as well, or if you damage the ulcer from some overzealous brushing, it's going to take longer to heal.”

Stress can also cause people to grind or clench their teeth, which can damage teeth and cause headaches and toothaches.³

According to Dr Duff, sugary treats and drinks can have a big impact on your oral health.

“It's not so much about the quantity of sugar but the frequency of [it] present in the mouth,” he says. “It creates an acid environment, and that acid environment lasts for 30 to 40 minutes after you have finished eating or drinking.”

Dr Duff says that it’s actually important you don’t brush your teeth for at least 40 minutes after consuming sugary products, as the acid makes tooth enamel softer (meaning it could be damaged by brushing).

To maintain healthy oral hygiene, you should:

• brush your teeth twice a day (morning and night) for at least 2 minutes
• floss your teeth at least once a day
• limit or eliminate sugary foods and drinks.

“Everyone knows you should floss every day, but not everyone does it,” says Dr Duff. “The key is to find a way to work it into your daily routine.”

“I got into a habit of leaving the floss container on top of the sink,” he adds, “so it stared me down every night before bed.”

Dr Duff says one way to assess your oral health at home is to pull your lower lip down to inspect the inside of the lower front teeth in the mirror, to make sure they’re absolutely clean.

“That's the first place we see build-up on the teeth, because that's where the saliva pools and you have more minerals in the mouth.”

He also says healthy gums should look like an orange peel, ruffly and firm. “The gum tissue between the teeth should be a nice sharp V shape, and the gum tissue should be pink, not red. If it’s red and round that means it’s inflamed.”

“If the gums bleed when you floss, that’s the first sign of gingivitis and that's the first sign of problems,” Dr Duff adds.

The long-term implications of poor oral hygiene include tooth decay, tooth loss and gum disease. If left untreated, oral disease can lead to physical and even psychological problems.⁴

“Plaque accumulates on tooth surfaces every day, but if we brush regularly, it’s soft and easy to remove,” says Dr Duff. “If it’s not regularly brushed and flossed off, it becomes hardened and mineralised, impossible to brush off without seeing a dental professional.”

Dr Duff says that flossing is a great way to prevent both tooth decay and gum disease. It gets down between the teeth and reduces bacteria where the teeth touch one another.

“Floss also gets down to the gum level and disrupts the biofilm there, which reduces the amount of abuse that we are giving to our gums,” he adds.

The longer-term implications of decay and gum disease include a loss of bone support.⁵

“Ultimately, losing bone support will lead to loose teeth, mobile teeth and, eventually, the loss of teeth,” says Dr Duff. “Once there is a loss of bone support, any form of treatment becomes difficult.”