Coronavirus: Home Dental Cleaning Tips

While the coronavirus is currently a major public health emergency, that doesn’t mean that your health is on hold. You still need to take care of your mouth, even if there seem to be more pressing concerns. 

Dental cleaning is essential right now. With health systems overrun and the need for social distance because of COVID-19, we must do what we can to limit our risk of falling sick in other ways. Dental cleaning is the best way to avoid severe infections and keep your teeth and gums healthy. 

In this post, we’re going to take a look at all the ways that you can clean your teeth effectively at home if you can’t visit the dentist because of the coronavirus. Here are some tips. 

Brush Your Teeth Twice Per Day And Use Interdental Brushes

Brushing your teeth twice per day in the morning and before you go to bed is the primary way to keep your teeth clean at home. Ideally, you should use a toothbrush with soft bristles to gently disrupt any plaque sitting on the point at which the teeth and gums meet.

Interestingly, you don’t need to scrape the plaque off to achieve effective dental cleaning. Just dislodging it is often enough to allow the gum to begin the repair process and keep itself healthy. 

After you’ve brushed for two minutes, your mouth will be clean, but you won’t have scraped out any plaque and gunk sitting in the gaps between your teeth. To do this, you can either use dental floss or, better yet, an interdental brush. These brushes are ideal if you naturally have gaps in your teeth as they lower the risk of decay and prevent spaces from widening over time. 

 

Wash Your Mouth Out With Saltwater

During the coronavirus pandemic, you might not be able to get mouthwash without putting yourself at risk of becoming infected. But the good news is that you don’t need a commercial product to improve oral hygiene – salt water will do the trick. 

Many dentists now recommend that people bathe their mouths in salt water every day, especially if they are at risk of periodontitis. Fill a glass of water and then stir in some salt. Rinse and gargle for about thirty seconds before spitting out into a sink. 

Saltwater is a highly effective mouthwash because it kills bacteria while preserving your mouth microbiome at the same time. 

At this time of the pandemic, you may also want to consider using a peroxide-based mouthwash. The mouth is an entry point for the virus, so regular use of peroxide after return home may help bolster your defenses (though we need more science before giving any definitive answers). 

Stop Eating Sugary Foods

With COVID-19 on the loose, people must adjust their lifestyles to be as healthy as possible. Now, therefore, it is a better time than ever to ditch junk food and embrace healthier options. The last thing you want right now is to develop a gum infection and become infected with the coronavirus. 

Where possible, try to avoid products with added sugar. Candies, bakery items, most condiments, soda, and cake, are all packed with sugar that leads to the development of bacteria that attack the teeth. The acid they make slowly wears away at the enamel, eventually leading to cavities. These can then become infected and cause pain. 

Swapping out junk food for regular food, as it comes out of the ground, will improve the health of your mouth tremendously and reduce the risk of a dental emergency Alpharetta. 

Prepare Your Emergency Kit

Even with an effective dental cleaning routine, you can still wind up with tooth pain. It is a good idea, therefore, to prepare an emergency kit so that you have a painkiller ready to go, should you experience a flare-up. 

You can use any standard over-the-counter pain medication, so long as you don’t have any COVID-19 symptoms. Paracetamol, co-codamol, and Tylenol are all excellent options. 

Conclusion

Dental cleaning is more important than ever at this sensitive time. Feel free, therefore, to be extra vigilant and keep your mouth in excellent health. If you eat something sugary, there’s nothing wrong with cleaning your teeth afterward, even if that means brushing several times a day for a short while until the threat passes. If you would like more information, please visit our Newpark Orthodontics homepage.