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The holidays are a great time for friends and family to gather together and eat delicious food, sing holiday carols, and give the gift of love and thanks. However, it’s not such a great time for your smile. With all of the foods, treats, and drinks constantly at arm’s reach, your smile is in danger, and we encourage you to do all you can to prevent the holiday cavities.

Two things you can do to care for your smile this holiday season are: participate in a daily oral hygiene routine and visit your dentist for a checkup and cleaning every six months. To help you have the best oral hygiene routine possible, we recommend doing the following things:

Brush your teeth
Brush your teeth twice a day with a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. It’s generally recommended to brush every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed. Doing so will help you clean your smile and prevent cavities, especially during this holiday season.

Floss your smile
Floss your teeth at least once a day. Doing so will free the debris and food particles from your smile. It will also help you scrape the plaque from your teeth, which is a beneficial technique that helps reduce the chances of developing gum disease. If you aren’t sure which floss to use for your smile, please feel free to try both waxed and unwaxed floss and then decide which product works best for your smile.

Rinse your mouth
If you want to perform a thorough cleaning job, it’s best to rinse your mouth with beneficial mouthwash after you have brushed and flossed your teeth. You only need to rinse once a day. With the many types of mouthwash products available today, we recommend rinsing with antibacterial mouthwash, plaque mouthwash, fluoride mouthwash, or desensitizing mouthwash.

Clean your tongue
Cleaning your tongue is an important technique that finishes the cleaning job each day. You can clean your tongue with a tongue scraper or you could simply clean it with your toothbrush and toothpaste. However you decide to clean it, make sure you clean your entire tongue.

Call our office today if you have any questions or if you would like to learn more!