You brush your teeth, occasionally floss, and reluctantly go to the dentist at least once a year. You should be good to go, right?
Wrong.
The research is stacking up, and it is becoming clear that clean teeth are not only good for smiles and kissing, but also for preventing tooth decay, infections, and heart attacks. Let me ask you a few questions. Do you occasionally have bad breath? Do your gums ever bleed when you floss? Have you ever noticed a rotten smell while flossing your teeth? These are all signs of harboring bacteria in your gums. What happens when bacteria are allowed to fester in your mouth, is they feed off your leftover food, and weaken whatever flesh they come into contact with. They release their infectious kin through your blood stream, which means it will eventually end up in your heart.
The good and bad news is that it can take many years for such an infection to do enough damage to decay your teeth and damage your heart. This means that you have plenty of time to take action, but considering that bleeding gums and bad breath are not a real threat, a lot of guys wait until it is too late. If you want to make sure you can eat a steak with your own chompers 20 years from now, these are the tips you’ll want to follow.
- Tip One– Brush your teeth twice a day, one of those using a mixture of baking soda, salt, and peroxide. Angle the brush, and push gently at the gum line. This will make your mouth unappealing to most bacteria, as there will be minimal leftovers for them to snack on.
- Tip Two– Floss your teeth every day. The only way to keep bacteria out of your gums, is to flush them out. A water pik works great for this, but dental floss is the next best thing.
- Tip Three– Massage your gums with a “Butler tip.” When your gums are not getting enough blood flow, they can become loose and weak. This makes it easy for bacteria to enter at the gum line. A butler tip is designed to massage the gum between your teeth, increasing blood flow, and strengthening the seal between your teeth and their root. Think of it as a workout for your mouth. As long as your gum line is strong and healthy, the bacteria in your mouth can be washed away with a glass of water, as they will have a limited number of places to cling and hide.
Keeping your teeth and body in perfect health is not easy. However, when the alternative is many painful hours in the dentist’s chair, followed by dentures, and heart disease… those 10 extra minutes might be easier to find than you think!
About Dr. Eric J. Leech
Eric has written for over a decade. Then one day he created Urbasm.com, a site for every guy.
About Dr. Eric J. Leech