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While listing out your New Years resolutions this time around, consider adding a few resolutions for your health, and specifically, your mouth. Keeping your teeth, gums, and tongue in good shape can help you in the years to come. Practicing good oral hygiene will help you look and feel good, along with allow you to avoid major dental surgeries and complications in the future. Here are 5 tips you can easily make into New Years resolutions for a better, healthier smile.

Brush for At Least Two Minutes Every Time

Though it may be simple to brush your teeth everyday, it’s a lot harder to do it for as long as it’s recommended. Two minutes is the least amount of time you should brush your teeth. Try singing a song in your head that’s at least that long, or keep a timer close to your toothbrush. You could also use an electric toothbrush, like SoniCare, which has a built in timer. Brushing is the most effective way of cleaning your teeth and keeping them as healthy as possible, but very little is done if you brush for under two minutes. Resolve to brush for at least two minutes every time you brush and you’ll notice a healthier, cleaner smile.

Avoid Sugary Drinks

One of the most harmful foods for your teeth are drinks that are high in sugar: sodas, fruit juices, Gatorade, and the like. These drinks eat away at the enamel of your teeth and feed the bacteria that lives in your mouth. Because it’s a liquid, these sugars are able to fit into every nook and cranny of your teeth and are tough to get out. Set a resolution this year to avoid these harmful drinks for the sake of your teeth. If you must have a soda every once in awhile though, try to drink a glass of water or brush after you consume it. This will help remove the sugars from your teeth and gums.

Floss Everyday

It’s incredibly important to floss once a day. The most harmful bacterias tend to colonize and reproduce under your teeth and in the crevices of your gums. Flossing helps remove the plaque and bacteria before it can reach those pockets. By removing the debris that’s between your teeth, where a toothbrush can’t reach, you can lower your risk of dental complications such as periodontitis, otherwise known as gum disease. For more information on flossing, check out this article.

Get a Tongue Scraper

In the New Year, find yourself a tongue scraper that works for you and use it. The main causes of bad breath don’t have to do with your teeth or gums, but rather your tongue. Bacteria builds up on the surface of your tongue, especially in the back area near your throat. A tongue scraper is a small instrument that you glide against the groove of your tongue to pull off any bacteria that has formed on the top of the surface. Tongue scrapers are a great way to keep your mouth clean while making your breath smell fresh.

Visit Your Dentist

This year, resolve to visit your dentist once every six months. Routine check ups are a great way to get a fresh cleaning and to detect any complications before they become a costly situation. Periodontitis and cavities can be easily detected in the early stages to help keep them from becoming a serious issue. As well, your dentist will talk to you about ways of cleaning your teeth better and how to have the healthiest smile possible. At Water Tower Dental, we want to make sure every patient of ours is getting the best treatment available. If you’d like to make an appointment with us, please contact us today. Good luck in the new year, here’s to healthier teeth!

When it comes to your child, there are many firsts that must be determined. A very important first for a child is the first time they visit the dentist. At Water Tower Dental, we make sure that this fist visit is a great experience that helps a child learn to love cleaning their teeth and visiting the dentist for years to come. But when exactly should your child start to visit the dentist?

We recommend you begin checkups for your child before the age of 2. Taking your child to the dentist is a great way to help prevent tooth and gum decay. As a parent, it helps you understand the best practices for keeping your children’s teeth clean and preventative practices. Tooth decay can occur as soon as teeth appear, as a parent you must be ready to help your child prevent decay and further troubles with their teeth.
When first taking your child to the dentist, help them prepare by understanding what the dentist does and what they might experience. As well, plan for the different outcomes of how a child may react. Many children are happy to cooperate, while others can become scared, or just have trouble sitting still. Make sure to talk to your child on what to expect from the dentist so they can feel ready and understand what behavior is appropriate. Also make sure to bring along and important medical records for your child.
At Water Tower Dental, we do our best to make each checkup fun for your child. We want children to have an experience they enjoy, not one they should fear. Many children’s first visits are often an introductory to the dental office and a way to acquaint your child with the sights and sounds of a dentist. If a child is acting uncomfortable of being non-cooperative, it may be encouraged to try a few short visits to the dentist to help your child become better acquainted. This can be an important experience, especially in the future if your child has more serious dental issues.
If a child is comfortable and relaxed, we spend a short amount of time helping your child understand the best practices of dental hygiene while inspecting and cleaning their teeth.
Depending on the age of the child, precedes may include:
 

• Thorough examination of the mouth including the teeth, gums, jaw, bite, and oral tissue.
• Gentle cleaning and polishing to remove plaque.
• X-Rays
• A demonstration on proper oral hygiene and cleaning.

Once a full examination is complete, the dentist will talk to you, the parent, on any concerns they may have and if any action should be taken.
After the first visit to the dentist, children should return every six months for proper cleaning and check up. However, if a child has trouble with the dentist, interim visits every three months may be necessary at first to help your child feel comfortably and confident at the dentist.
If your child is ready for the dentist, don’t hesitate to contact Water Tower Dental today. We’re happy to show every child how fun the dentist can be and give them an experience they won’t forget.

Of course it’s no question that the smartest practices for healthy teeth are brushing and flossing everyday. However, there are several more tips that can help you keep your teeth and gums healthy, and breath fresh. Today we’d like to discuss a few more smart practices for healthier teeth.

Drink Plenty of Water

This is a universal tip for a healthy lifestyle, however it’s extremely helpful for good teeth. Water is the simplest way to flush your mouth of food particles and harmful bacteria. The more water you drink, the better chances of removing waste from your mouth. We recommend 8 to 10 cups of water a day. Try drinking a glass an hour while at work; it’s a great way to get all of your water in for the day.

Eat Foods that are Good for Your Teeth

We’ve mentioned a few before, but that are plenty of foods that can actually help your teeth. Crunchy vegetables like broccoli and carrots, which contain essential minerals and vitamins, can help the mouth salivate and wash away debris and bacteria from the teeth and gums. Foods that are high in vitamin D are also very helpful for the teeth as it helps absorb any calcium that you’ve consumed, a major chemical in building strong teeth. Try consuming foods high in vitamin D such as salmon, oysters, and mushrooms.

Change Your Toothbrush

You might brush everyday, three times a day, but if you’re using an old, worn toothbrush, it may be doing more harm than good. It’s a smart practice to replace your brush every two to three months. Otherwise, bacteria can build up between the bristles, and you’ll end up brushing bacteria back into your mouth.

Eat Less Sugar

You may have read our previous post on how bad sugar really is for your teeth. Which may surprise you that we recommend now to eat less sugar. Basically, sugar is bad for your teeth when you allow it to be. If you rinse your mouth and brush your teeth after consuming sugar, then you’re fine. However, we understand, most people aren’t carrying a toothbrush around with them halfway through the workday when you need that mid-day sugar pick me up. Though it may seem like a good idea, consuming sugars can really hurt your teeth, so try to avoid it when you can. Rather than a sugary cupcake or candy bar, try an apple or an orange to perk you up.

Your Teeth Are Not a Tool

Make note, your teeth are for eating food and not much else. Don’t use your teeth to untie knots or open up bags of chips or crush ice. All of these uses and more are extremely detrimental to your teeth. You can end up chipping or cracking a tooth very easily when you use your teeth for things other than chewing food. If you need to open that bag of chips, use scissors, if you want to crush some ice, use a blender.

Drink Tea Everyday

Tea is a great source of flavonoids and catechins, which are most helpful in keeping harmful bacteria from sticking to your teeth. As well, they kill free radicals that can cause cancer. Drink green tea for the best benefits without staining your teeth.

Six-Month Check Ups

The last practice we strongly recommend is visiting your dentist once every six months for a routine cleaning and check up. The check ups tend to include a thorough examination of your teeth and gums to detect any signs of cavities, tooth decay, and gum disease. When visiting your dentist they can also recommend healthy practices that are specific to your needs.
If you’re in the Chicago-land area and are looking for the number one rated dentists in Chicago, come to Water Tower Dental Care for your next check up. With a professional team of dental experts we would be happy to start you on the path of a brighter, whiter, and healthier smile.

An interesting question that arises in our office from time to time from concerned patients is if they can potentially floss too much and cause damage to their teeth. Flossing is one of the most important oral hygiene practices a person should perform. It helps clear out plaque and bacteria build up between the teeth and gums that a normal toothbrush cannot reach. It may be surprising to read that you can, in fact, floss too much. However, we encourage you to read further to understand exactly what that means.

Flossing is a simple practice that can keep your teeth in top shape for many years. Use a few inches of floss and work in between two teeth. In a saw-like motion scrap the sides of the teeth to remove plaque build up. Make sure to focus on each side of the tooth and use good amount of muscle to apply pressure. Make sure not to force the floss against the gums. The main purpose of the floss is to remove plaque on the side of the teeth. Most people believe it is to dig under the tooth into the gum, which we don’t recommend. If you floss once a day, the plaque build up will stay clear enough to stay out of the gums.
We recommend that you floss once a day because plaque that will build up between your teeth takes about 24 hours to form. Flossing once a day is more than enough to keep that area cleared. For whatever reason, if you find yourself needing a good floss after a serious meal of corn on the cob or maybe popcorn, it’s okay to floss twice or even three times in a day. However, we do not recommend that you make that a routine. A triple-floss day should be as rare as a solar eclipse.
If you feel like flossing once a day isn't enough for you, you may be flossing wrong. Find out if you're not flossing the right way by taking a look at these 5 common flossing mistakes.
You can floss too much. That’s right, and if you do you can seriously irritate and damage gum tissue. We imagine anyone who is over-flossing is probably overly-concerned with dental hygiene, however you’re doing more damage then good. The more you floss in a day, the more chance you’re allowing irritation to the gums. They can become sore and swollen and even start to bleed. If you continue to over-floss, you’ll begin to destroy your gum line and expose your tooth’s surface and its root. Once the root of your tooth is exposed, you can cause great damage that will lead to infection and potential root cavities (which are never fun).
As well, if you’re flossing too much, you’re wearing down the enamel on your tooth which is able to protect your teeth from cavities and damage. The more you wear away at that enamel, the higher chance you have of hurting your teeth and gums.
While there are exceptions to the rule, we really don’t recommend flossing more than once a day. However, we strongly encourage you continue to floss everyday. Flossing is one of the best practices you can perform to keep you teeth and gums healthy for a very long time. If you think you’re having trouble flossing, wearing at enamel, or would like to have a proper cleaning performed by the best dental practice in Chicago, call Water Tower Dental today. We would be happy to guide you through best oral hygiene practices while cleaning and preparing your teeth for a better, brighter smile.