Have you looked in the mirror and seen brown marks between your teeth and your gums? If so, it looks very much like you have tartar. If your aim is to stop tartar building up, read on: here are 6 tips for keeping tartar off your teeth.
Tartar is the main cause of tooth loss, and the only way to avoid it is by keeping up good oral hygiene. That means brushing properly and paying particular attention to the space between the gum and the teeth.
How can you keep tartar off your teeth?
Conditions as serious as gingivitis and periodontitis start with tartar, which is why it is so important to follow Dr. Diego Peydro’s tips for keeping tartar off your teeth.
Pay attention to how you brush
Good brushing is key to keeping tartar from building up between your teeth. Dr. Diego Peydro recommends paying particular attention when brushing behind the incisors and along the top.
These are the areas most often forgotten when brushing, which is why we should spend more time on them than usual.
Fix your crowding
If you have two teeth crowded on top of each other, you should know that you are more likely than anyone else to build up tartar between your teeth.
Brushing properly is harder if you have crowding, because the surface is not flat, which makes it difficult for the bristles to reach every part of the mouth.
It is important to fix this problem as soon as possible. At Clínica Peydro we are experts in resolving dental crowding with no need for extractions and using clear aligners alone.
Use dental floss
We need to back up our brushing with dental floss to keep tartar off our teeth. A toothbrush only cleans the face of the teeth, leaving the spaces between them dirty.
To keep bacteria from building up between them, we need to use floss or interdental brushes, which help us clean that contact point we cannot reach with a toothbrush.
Have professional cleanings
As well as brushing properly, Dr. Diego Peydro recommends two professional cleanings a year, since adults are more prone to gum disease.
A professional cleaning removes the debris that builds up between the teeth, reducing the chance of tartar forming. If you have tartar above the gum line between your teeth, a professional cleaning will keep it from going below the gum, preventing conditions such as gingivitis and periodontitis.
Use a good brushing technique
Using a good brushing technique is undoubtedly key to keeping tartar off your teeth. For that you need a good toothbrush.
Brushing your teeth properly includes using floss or interdental brushes. The ideal brushing time is three to five minutes, although Dr. Diego Peydro advises spending longer if it has been several hours since you last brushed.
Be wary of home remedies
Baking soda, lemon rinses, activated charcoal… none of them help keep tartar off your teeth, and they may even damage the enamel.
The only way to keep plaque from building up on our teeth is to brush properly at home and have two professional cleanings a year.
