Maintaining good oral health means practicing diligent preventative care throughout your smile. You brush your teeth and floss at home and visit your dentist for regular check-ups. But you can take further efforts to ensure your mouth looks and feels its best. This can prevent dental emergencies as well.
Rinsing with mouthwash can make your mouth feel fresh, but it will also help to keep your smile healthy in the long run. Read on to discover three of the many ways that mouthwash will help you improve your overall oral health.
3 Benefits of Adding Mouthwash to Your Routine
Enhance Your Oral Cleanliness
Oral hygiene is a necessary routine if you want to keep your smile looking and feeling its best. During this at-home process, you clear away plaque and other harmful residues that develop naturally throughout your day. If left on your smile, plaque will eat away at your teeth, leaving them vulnerable to many dental dangers.
Brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing daily will effectively get rid of dangerous plaque. But you also consume substances between your oral hygiene regimens that contribute to plaque formation.
It can be a good idea to rinse with mouthwash, especially after a meal, to give your oral hygiene a boost. This can reduce your risk of dental problems and make your smile cleaner. It will also get rid of food particles that could otherwise leave you with bad breath.
Prevent Gum Problems
Gum disease affects more than half of American adults, and though it is common, it will still leave lasting damage to your smile without prompt intervention. This infection of the gum tissue will require periodontal therapy from a dentist to eradicate. Dentists promote preventative care when it comes to periodontal health, and mouthwash can help you protect your gums.
Rinsing with an antibacterial mouthwash can help to balance the number of natural bacteria in your mouth. Then it will be less likely to spread and infect your gums, giving you gum disease. Use this type of mouthwash in conjunction with good oral hygiene practices to keep your gums healthy.
Strengthen Your Teeth
Your teeth have a hard outer layer called enamel that serves as a shield over the more vulnerable interior of the tooth. Though durable, enamel may wear down over time, exposing these inner layers to bacteria and plaque that could cause dental issues. Once gone, the enamel will not regrow.
You can preserve your enamel by rinsing with mouthwash that contains fluoride. This mineral will absorb into the teeth, strengthening the enamel. It will then be more resistant to staining, erosion, and more. You can see a significant decrease in your risk for cavities this way.
Talk to your dentist to learn if this type of mouthwash can help you improve your oral health. They can work with you to find at-home preventative dental care that will suit your unique smile and dental needs.