Dubai: Everyone knows how to brush their teeth, right? Wrong. You will be surprised to know that a large section of people in the UAE do not know how to brush their teeth properly.
Most people stumble into the bathroom still sleepy, pick up their toothbrush, squeeze some toothpaste on it and get to moving the brush back and forth on their teeth like it was some oscillating wonder. That unfortunately, is the wrong way of brushing, says Dr Manohar Mallya, dentist and specialist orthodontist in Dubai.
Teeth, he says, should be brushed using a circular motion.
To view the correct method of brushing your teeth, log on to YouTube by typing ‘Proper tooth brushing’ in the search box.
Apart from brushing, there are many other things we are doing wrong when it comes to our dental hygiene. “The mouth is the focus of infection and ignoring oral and dental hygiene usually leads to problems in other parts of the body,” says Dr Mallya. (To know what you are doing, wrong see the eight dentist tips).
Decaying quietly
The reason why people do not pay enough attention to the care of their teeth is because dental problems are deceptive. They cause no immediate pain. A tooth decay continues quietly till it reaches the pulp and then one fine day, the numbing pain hits you all of a sudden.
The problem with us, says Dr Mallya, is that unlike the preening we do when it comes to our skin, hair and body, we don’t open our mouth and inspect our teeth, gums and tongue on a regular basis. What’s inside the mouth remains a mystery to most of us much of the time till trouble announces itself.
Also nobody really opens their mouth and inspects their teeth or gums from time to time because unlike the skin or hair, teeth seem not that important to most people.
The other important form of negligence of our teeth is eating the wrong types of food. We are so obsessed about reading up on good nutrition but little do we pay attention to some types of foods affect our teeth.
Visiting a dentist is considered a bothersome task and many people avoid it as much as possible. Unless it is an emergency, most people do not book regular appointments with dentists for routine maintenance which goes a long way in keeping dental problems at bay. By being stingy on smaller expenses that come with regular check-ups, cleaning and scaling, you can avoid the hefty expenses that follow due to major dental health problems.
A check-up in time keeps your teeth fine could well be the lesson to be learned here.
