Home Care Tips

As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so we've compiled some of our best homecare tips to help you take great care of your teeth and gums at home!

The Phillips Sonicare Flexcare Plus toothbrush is the best toothbrush available; it's far superior to a manual toothbrush and outperforms many other electric brushes as well.  If you're interested in taking your homecare to the next level, getting a Sonicare toothbrush is a great place to start!

Homecare Tip #1.5: Brush with a Sonicare toothbrush for 3 - 6 minutes twice per day.

Homecare Tip #1: Sonicare Flexcare toothbrush

Homecare Tip #2: WaterPik Water Flosser

Most people don't have the time or patience to floss nearly as often as they or their hygienist would like them to.  A WaterPik is an excellent floss replacement that will help you keep your teeth and gums immaculately clean.

If you've already upgraded from a manual toothbrush to a Sonicare, you know it was worth it - upgrading from floss to a WaterPik will be just as beneficial!

If you're still using a manual toothbrush, please go back to Homecare Tip #1.

Homecare Tip #2.5: WaterPik your teeth and gums after your nighttime brushing
 

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Homecare Tip #3: Listerine

Listerine is much more than an optional breath-freshener!  It's a scientifically formulated mouth rinse that's clinically proven to eliminate 97% of the germs that cause gum disease!  Try Citrus Listerine for some of the most mild and most refreshing taste!  Basically, you must use Listerine because of the following video!  :-)

Homecare Tip #3.5: After brushing and WaterPik-ing, rinse with a few ounces of full-strength Listerine.  Spit but don't rinse with water afterwards.  Then, don't eat or drink anything for ten minutes.

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Basic Oral Hygiene

We’ve all heard the old adage: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  This adage couldn’t be truer when it comes to dental hygiene at home.  Proper daily oral hygiene lays the groundwork for a healthy smile.

To help you perfect the art of proper oral hygiene at home, here are a few tips:

• Brush at least twice a day – Brushing your teeth removes food debris, plaque and bacteria off of your teeth.   
• Never go to bed without freshly brushed teeth – Leaving food debris on the teeth accelerates dental decay and gum disease
• Place your brush at a 45 degree angle when brushing – Brushing with the bristles of the brush at a 45 degree angle to the tooth surface is more effective than brushing at a 90 degree angle (perpendicular) to the tooth.
• Floss once a day – Did you know that flossing is the ONLY way you can clean between your teeth effectively at home?  That’s why flossing is so highly recommended by dentists.
• Brush with a Phillips Sonicare electric toothbrush – Think of a Sonicare toothbrush  like a power tool for cleaning your teeth: sure, you could get by without one, just like you could get by without a car, but why would you want to do it the hard way?
• Use a gentle touch – Brushing too vigorously can damage the gums and even cause them to recede
• Concentrate on brushing all sides of your teeth – Don’t forget the back sides of your back teeth!
• Brush your tongue – Brushing the tongue is strange at first but it’s important to dislodge the bacteria that could be living there.
• Rinse with Listerine at last once per day for 1 minute – Rinsing with an antimicrobial agent like Listerine can kill 99% of gum disease-causing bacteria in your mouth.  If such a terrific antimicrobial rinse exists, why not use it?!

And remember: You don't have to brush and floss ALL of your teeth; just brush and floss the teeth you want to keep! :-)

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