We get it. We’re all busier than we’ve ever been. And while the internet provides so much access to information, sifting through the noise online to find the insights and gems we seek on a specific topic can be a challenging prospect sometimes.
Yet with the recent explosion of new research around the importance of oral health for the health of our immune system and micro biome, caring for our oral health becomes even more critical to caring for the ‘whole being’ wellness of our families.
So, here’s a quick list of easy to apply steps each with a big ‘bang for the buck’ to help jumpstart your oral health habits today…
1. Get to know your mouth
If you read our work regularly, you’ve heard it before. There’s just no getting away from the power of knowing the current state of health of our own mouths. Sure, having a dentist look around is helpful, but nothing compares to looking in our own mouths and seeing with our own eyes where our gums are receding, where gums bleed when we floss, even the color of coating on our tongues.
Seeing what’s going on in our mouths is pretty simple. It just takes a willingness to look. Even just a few seconds in the mirror can give us huge insights. If you want to really do this right, here’s a helpful free resource we created to help you get to know your mouth.
2. Floss at least every other day
Clinical studies show that flossing lowers risk of heart disease among many other problems associated with chronic systemic inflammation. Current research fairly conclusively points that inflammation in the mouth may very well be a cause of chronic inflammation in the whole body.
And flossing every other day has shown to lower inflammatory markers (which makes sense if you think about the need to disrupt and disorganize bugs implicated with gum disease).
Just make sure you floss consciously and use a floss that really helps. And here’s what to do if you really, really don’t like to floss.
3. Brush your teeth well once a day
We know that some of you reading this may think, “But what about the 2 minutes twice a day cultural mantra?”
We encourage you to brush your teeth twice a day. But rather than mindlessly scrubbing twice a day for two minutes (which by the way, statistically most of us don’t even do), how about we commit to doing a quick once over like habit, then once a day give our teeth and gums the care they deserve.
Around our home, it’s common for someone to sit on the couch and brush (and I commonly brush in the car!). When we choose to sit comfortably and care for our oral health, it’s a very different approach to brushing than the ‘Scrub fast so we can get it done in two minutes’ approach. Whoever proclaimed that 2 minutes was the holy grail for brushing anyway?
And while we’re on brushing, be sure you know how to brush your teeth to reduce gum disease.
4. Stop using products that contain ingredients that take away from oral health
The reason we created our HealThy Mouth Blend was because we couldn’t find an oral hygiene product on the market that didn’t have at least one ingredient that research showed diminished our ability to optimize our oral health. Call us silly, but it seems to us that oral hygiene products should be made with 100% of the ingredients intentionally in the formula to provide some beneficial function to help us navigate to greater oral health.
So, watch out for products with alcohol, foaming agents like SLS, Saccharine, fluoride, glycerin, hydrated silica, artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors, even tiny plastic beads (ugg). Any ingredient that doesn’t have an easy to understand helpful reason to be in an oral hygiene product very well may take away from our ability to optimize the health of our mouth and should be avoided.
If you’d like to learn how to tell if your oral hygiene product was designed to really help you, here’s a free video tutorial course that shows a simple strategy anyone can apply to determine for themselves if a product is heading in the right direction.
So there’s a quick, high benefit list of steps anyone can take. What did we leave off this list that you think should be here? What do you do to optimize your oral health? Please share with us in the comments so we can all continue to learn from one another.
Helpful, Related Resources:
The Connection Between Gum Disease, Mercury and Alzheimer’s [[expert interview video]]
How to Balance Your Oral Flora [article]
What Causes Receding Gums and How to Stop it [article]
How to Stop Bleeding Gums in 3 Easy Steps [article]
The First Step of Dental Self Empowerment [article]
Does Flossing Really Lower My Risk of Heart Disease? [article]
How to Floss Consciously [article]
What’s the Best Floss on the Market and Why? [article]
What to Do if You Really, Really Don’t Like Flossing [article]
4 Reasons Why Brushing Is SO Important [article]
“How Long Should I Brush My Teeth?” [article]
How to Brush Your Teeth to Reduce Gum Disease [article]
5 Steps to a Healthy Mouth [[FREE video series]]
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