Your mouth and teeth have three crucial jobs, including smiling, eating, and talking. When you have excellent oral health, you can carry out all of these functions with ease. On the other hand, poorly maintained teeth make eating a painful ordeal. If your teeth are rotten or missing, you will shy away from smiling and talking.
Maintaining healthy teeth is not a difficult task. But unfortunately, a lot of people let small issues with their teeth fester. Untreated damage leads to cavities, gum disease, and eventually, tooth loss. These are the five most common indicators of healthy teeth.
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1You do Not Have Bad Breath
Bad breath is usually the first indicator that your oral health is declining. A healthy mouth rarely smells, especially if you use fluoride toothpaste and floss regularly. Chronic terrible breath, also known as halitosis, is caused by several factors, including:
- Tobacco: Tobacco contains chemicals that break down in the mouth and cause bad breath. It also raises your chances of getting gum disease, which leads to bad breath.
- Food: Certain types of food with strong smell break down, and their smell lingers in the blood, causing bad breath.
- Poor saliva production: Your saliva is supposed to clean the mouth naturally. Dry mouth leads to the accumulation of food particles and eventually causes terrible breath.
- Poor dental hygiene: When you do not brush your teeth often, food particles lead to the excessive growth of plaque. The bacteria irritate the teeth and gums, causing periodontitis, which is characterized by bad breath.
Some of the easy ways to avoid bad breath include brushing your teeth often, flossing, cleaning your dentures, brushing your tongue, and changing diet. You should see a dentist if you take these steps and the bad breath persists.
2You Have a Healthy Tongue
A healthy tongue is pink in color. You should see a dentist if there are any significant changes in the color of your tongue. Other changes the dentist might be concerned about include swelling, pain when eating and swallowing, and having bumps on the surface.
A dental exam will help you get a diagnosis of any health problem you could be developing when you have tongue abnormalities. The common signs of an unhealthy tongue include:
White tongue: this is caused by conditions such as oral thrush, oral lichens, and Leukoplakia. A dentist will always be on the lookout for abnormal cell growth, which sometimes signifies the onset of oral cancer.
Yellow tongue: A yellow tongue indicates that you are smoking too much tobacco or having excessive plaque levels.
Black and hairy tongue: People with extremely poor oral hygiene develop black and hairy tongues because of bacteria overgrowth. Sometimes, excess papillae may lead to hairiness.
You can maintain a healthy tongue by practicing dental hygiene and seeing the dentist regularly.
3You Do Not Have Cavities
Cavities are the result of permanent damage to your tooth enamel. Even though enamel is the toughest substance in the human body, it can be eroded by plaque. Plaque multiplies when you eat sugary and starchy foods, but you have poor dental hygiene. Plaque breaks down the starch and releases acid that slowly eats away at the enamel until crevices develop.
The crevices become a route for bacteria into the pulp cavity, and tooth decay starts. The only strategy to treat a tooth with cavity damage is by getting a root canal from a dentist. If you notice cavities in your children’s teeth, you can consult this kids dentist in san antonio for cleaning procedures.
4You Have White Teeth
Enamel gives healthy human teeth a white hue. The dentine, on the other hand, is yellowish, which is why healthy teeth are milk-white. Changes in teeth color are often an indication that you are developing dental health problems. Common causes of stains are:
- Tobacco
- Poor brushing and flossing
- Too much coffee
- Dental materials with silver sulfide
A dentist can diagnose and treat discolored teeth for a beautiful and healthy smile.
5Your Teeth are Aligned
Proper teeth alignment gives you the confidence to smile and prevents speech problems. Some of the common causes of misaligned teeth are:
- Poor dental hygiene
- Prolonged sucking of the thumb
- Genetics
- Poor nutrition
- Misaligned jaw
Only a professional dentist can diagnose the cause of teeth misalignment and recommend the orthodontic process to correct it.
If you do not have these signs of healthy teeth, it is good to visit St Lucia Dentist Brisbane. They will give you a diagnosis and course of treatment to regain oral health.
Author Bio
Elizabeth is a renowned leader in the space of Health and Mental Wellness topics. Her work has appeared on more than a dozen influential sites and blogs. Her articles both focus on providing valuable information and an entertaining read that her readers enjoy. More about her work on – ELIZABETHMARKS.me
