Proper oral hygiene is the main means of preventing tooth decay, as well as gum disease. But how do you choose the most suitable product from the abundance on offer – brushes, floss and the rest? AND klinika oral hygienist Ermana Untulienė says that dental care products should be chosen individually, and emphasises that it's very important to clean not only the teeth but also between them. There's no single answer as to which dental care products to choose – every person's oral microflora, diet, lifestyle habits and oral problems differ. AND klinika oral hygienist Ermana Untulienė offers patients dental care products according to their age and the condition of their teeth: “If a patient is young, without decay or gum disease and with good hand coordination, basic tools should be enough – an ordinary toothbrush and, without fail, cleaning between the teeth. The more ‘arsenal’ a person has in their mouth – implants, crowns, braces – the more complicated their hygiene. Floss and a brush may no longer be enough; they'll also need an interdental brush, an oral irrigator and a single-tuft brush for hard-to-reach surfaces.” A single-tuft brush would come in handy for children too, as it's more convenient for cleaning the groove along the gumline. “Children, especially in early childhood, have a mixed dentition. An ordinary brush cleans several teeth at once, and the quality of cleaning suffers. Moreover, today's children like to snack on fast carbohydrates, which coats the teeth heavily and feeds bacteria all day. Such a child needs to take more care,” says oral hygienist E. Untulienė.

 

Oral hygienist E. Untulienė warns about electric rotary brushes – over time the pressure they exert thins the enamel, and the revolutions of a head spinning in a circle are far higher than those of an ordinary brush moved by a person. So it's better to choose an ordinary brush or an ultrasonic one – it works without friction, helps control coffee and nicotine stains, and its vibration also massages the gums. Still, a brush alone isn't enough for dental care. Cleaning between the teeth and along the gumline is very important. “Without cleaning between the teeth, it's impossible to maintain good hygiene. If you don't clean between the teeth, no more than 50% of plaque can be removed,” says AND klinika oral hygienist E. Untulienė. The most important time to clean between the teeth is in the evening. If you didn't manage to do it in the morning, thorough evening cleaning should be enough. Interdental floss comes in several types – waxed and expanding, which swells from moisture between the teeth. “Waxed floss doesn't grip the tooth surface as much as expanding floss, but waxed floss is more convenient for children to learn to clean with. Ordinary waxed floss would be enough for daytime cleaning. But for more effective cleaning, expanding floss is the better choice,” says the oral hygienist. Effective oral hygiene requires a whole arsenal of tools – a toothbrush, an interdental cleaning tool and, for hard-to-reach surfaces such as wisdom teeth, a single-tuft brush. E. Untulienė says you also need to grasp how to use all the tools and how to achieve the best cleaning. How often you should visit the oral hygienist depends on your personal hygiene skills. If there are no tooth or gum problems and hygiene skills are good, once a year would be enough. Over the years, visits to the oral hygienist may become more frequent, because worn teeth tend to attract plaque.