Our teeth help us perform several functions, like eating and speaking. The way our teeth look also affects our appearance and impacts our self-confidence, so Dental Problems is essential to care for your teeth.
Caring for your teeth ensure they remain healthy, and you can only achieve better teeth by paying attention to your oral hygiene. Caring for your teeth and visiting your dental hygienist improves your oral and general health.
The typical dental conditions include:
Toothache
Toothache occurs for several reasons, so you must be attentive to how often you feel the pain and the severity and type of pain to identify the cause of the toothache. Five common types of toothache affect people: stabbing pain, throbbing, sensitivity, aching, and pressure.
When you have cavities that affect the teeth nerve, Dental Problems results in a constant, intermittent, stabbing or dull ache. Sensitivity and sharp pain in a tooth may also result from an abscess or cracked tooth.
Bleeding gums
You may experience bleeding gums if you brush your teeth and gums vigorously. Bleeding gums when brushing may also occur when you have certain health conditions like vitamin deficiency and diabetes and certain cancers like leukemia and periodontitis.
You can use a few home remedies for your bleeding gums before visiting a dentist. Ensure you brush your teeth gently with a soft-bristled toothbrush, using circular motions and floss daily. Flossing is one of the best preventive measures for gum disease and can treat different gum diseases.
- A cracked, broken or chipped tooth
If you have an injury to your teeth, ensure you schedule an appointment with your dentist immediately. Teeth injuries are usually not emergencies, so you may have to wait a few days to see your dentist, but if the injury causes intense pain, you have to schedule an emergency dental visit.
If you have a broken or chipped part of your teeth, ensure you take Dental Problems to your dental appointment because the dentist may have to reattach Dental Problems with dental bonding.
- Knocked out tooth
Having a knocked-out tooth is a dental emergency that requires you to book an immediate appointment with your dentist within 30 minutes of losing the tooth. Ensure you pick the tooth by the crown and do not touch its root. Rinse the tooth to remove the surface dirt, but do not scrub the tooth with soap or pull the loose tissues.
Put the tooth in the socket and hold it until you get to the clinic. If gently holding the tooth in place is impossible, put it in a small container of milk or saliva. You will experience intense pain from losing a tooth, so you can take an over-the-counter medication while you wait to see your dentist.
- Tooth Sensitivity
If you experience tooth sensitivity to cold, it may be due to a periodontal abscess or cavity. You may have general teeth sensitivity because of gum recession, teeth grinding at night or enamel erosion.
You can reduce the sensitivity by using a soft-bristled toothbrush and specialized toothpaste to brush your teeth. If you still experience the sensitivity after a few weeks, visit your dentist to check the cause of your teeth sensitivity.
- Bruxism
Bruxism is grinding or clenching the teeth while sleeping. This habit is usually difficult to stop, increasing the risk of teeth injury. It can chip, break and crack your teeth. Sometimes, bruxism wears down the teeth.
You can stop bruxism by practicing mindful techniques and medication before sleeping. Trying to manage stress and using a mouth guard at night will help prevent bruxism. You can have your dentist fit a mouth guard custom-made to hold your jaw in the natural position while you sleep to stop the teeth from grinding or clenching.
- Dry mouth
A dry mouth results from insufficient saliva in the mouth. This makes you feel uncomfortable and may affect your oral health. Usually, saliva clears debris in the mouth and fights off bacteria that cause cavities, so without saliva, you have a higher chance of tooth and gum decay.
Most people have a dry mouth because of the side effect of prescribed medication. Dry mouth sometimes results from health issues like diabetes and autoimmune disorders like HIV/AIDS.
- Bad breath
If you notice bad breath a couple of minutes after brushing, your diet may be the cause. Foods like garlic, cumin and onions contain products the blood absorbs that get into the lungs and give you bad breath days after the meal. If your meals contain many of these foods above, try to reduce them to prevent bad breath.
You may also have bad breath if you experience dry mouth, tooth decay, oral cancer, or periodontal disease.
- Jaw pain
If you have TMJ issues, it may cause stiffness of the jaw and intense jaw pain. This makes eating, swallowing and speaking difficult. It will also cause dizziness, headaches, and back, neck, ear and shoulder pain.
Pain resulting from TMJ results from different issues such a jaw injury, arthritis, and jaw and teeth misalignment. You can reduce the pain by eating soft foods and avoiding opening your jaw wide when you have flare-ups. Jaw stretches and exercises available online can help you manage the pain at home.
- Lack of confidence in your smile
If you have any teeth deformity that leaves you self-conscious, like stained or crooked teeth, you may want to visit your dentist or use an at-home remedy.
You can maintain your teeth by having an excellent oral hygiene routine. Using over-the-counter teeth whitenings treatments like whitening strips or toothpaste can improve the appearance of your teeth.
