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Maintaining good oral hygiene is essential if you want to preserve healthy teeth and gums. Learn five easy tips you can use every day.

The key to a healthy smile is great oral hygiene.

Everyone knows that they have to brush their teeth 2-3 times per day to keep them as white as humanly possible. Whether or not anyone actually does that remains a mystery, but that's what your dentist will tell you to do.

If you actually want to preserve your teeth and gums, you've got to go a bit beyond the bare minimum. In this post, we're going to give you 5 oral hygiene tips that'll have your teeth looking great, but more importantly feeling great.

Having good oral hygiene is important for those around you, but it's huge for many people's self-confidence. Neglecting it entirely will come back to haunt you down the road, so follow these tips and give your teeth a good life.

1. Toothbrushes, Explained

Brushing a few times per day is great, but unless you're using proper technique, you're actually leaving a lot of debris in your mouth. In fact, most people focus solely on their teeth, but you should actually be brushing your entire mouth.

This proper technique will have you brushing your teeth and gums at the same time in an up and down movement on both sides. Don't forget to brush the roof of your mouth to get rid of the bacteria that cause bad breath.

2. Floss More Than Never

Every time you leave the dentist, they probably tell you to floss every night. While nobody really follows this rule, it's the thing that's going to keep you from expensive dental procedures. Brushing cannot reach the spaces between your teeth and there's a lot of "stuff" in there.

3. Tongue Scrapers

Many brushes now come with a rough surface on the back of the head for you scrape your tongue with. Brushing the tongue is one of the hallmarks of good dental hygiene. Many of us give it a quick once over, but that's not going to get rid of all the bacteria.

Use the tongue scraper every time you brush and don't be afraid to get in there to get rid of the bacteria and keep your breath fresh.

4. What You're Consuming

Smoking, drinking alcohol and consuming certain other food and drink can be highly damaging to your oral health. Aside from the obvious health implications of tobacco, your teeth will stain and the things you eat to mask its smell are bad for your teeth as well (sweets, gum, etc.).

Sugary drinks and foods will slowly deteriorate your teeth over time as well. Soda and coffee are two of the more damaging things for your oral hygiene.

5. See Your Dentist

Only 58% of Americans visit the dentist once per year. Whether it's due to cost or deeming mouth care unnecessary, people are staying away and it's resulting in worse oral hygiene. A good dentist will give you advice on how to clean, explain the value of dental implants, and give your mouth the love it needs.

Hygiene Tips Are Fine, But...

Reading about hygiene tips is one thing, but actually following through with them is another. Having a healthy mouth requires a daily routine of cleaning, scraping, and flossing to make sure you've got all of the bacteria out of there. Follow these tips and find a routine that works for you.

If you found this post helpful, come back and visit us again for more on health and wellness.