No Stupid Questions

Disclaimer: I'm a psych nurse not a dental professional, but I'm commenting because my patients are a high-risk demographic for dental disease for a bunch of different reasons including poverty, decreased self-care, and medication side effects (particularly dry mouth and teeth grinding but I'll get to that) so these are the tips I give to my patients.

Brushing and flossing, obvs. I'm not going to elaborate on this one too much because there's plenty of actual experts on this that you can find that will explain the ideal techniques much better than I ever could.

Chewing gum and tic tacs / mints that have xylitol (and NO real sugar) in them because xylitol is particularly known to stimulate your salivary glands. Normally we associate increased moisture with bacterial growth, but your saliva is actually slightly antimicrobial and an important part of your oral immune system, so the dryer your mouth is the more hospitable it actually is to bacteria. So while you don't want to be drooling everywhere, you do want to make sure your mouth is nice and wet most of the time. Both stimulant medications (often given for ADHD) and antidepressants can cause dry mouth.

BUT if you're straight up eating the xylitol it can have an osmotic laxative effect (pulls water into your gut and makes your shit watery, pretty much all fake sugars do that) so you definitely want to select a xylitol product you can suck on or chew on for an extended period (as opposed to just eating and immediately swallowing like gummy bears or something) to maximize salivary stimulation with the least laxative effect.

It also helps to practice breathing through your nose (which has the added benefit of reducing anxiety), and they even make little sticker thingies to help your mouth stay shut while you sleep. Speaking of which, if you grind your teeth, you'll also want to wear a mouthguard while you sleep. Grinding your teeth can be caused by a lot of different things but the two biggest things I see are anxiety and certain medications (particularly stimulants and antipsychotics).

And lastly this is kind of anecdotal but the biggest thing that helped my oral hygiene was having to mask at work during the pandemic because I could smell my breath all the time. I had never really been good about routine oral hygiene before that, but I started having to brush my teeth before I left the house every single day to be able to tolerate wearing a mask, and for a while I was even brushing my teeth after lunch, but eventually to save time I switched to mouthwash then I'd head back out on the floor while chewing a sugar free xylitol gum behind my mask.

There is a rally good episode of the Huberman Lab podcast. Can't recommend it enough. Explains how teeth to regenerate to a certain extend and how to promote that.

Flossing and brushing like everyone said, but toothpaste matters I used to swear by the Sensidine with "Novamin" (Calcium sodium phosphosilicate), from what I understand it can actually repair minor damage (e.g. prevent a soft spot from becoming a cavity). Sadly last I checked there was some patient in the US preventing it from being sold here. I brought back a decent bit when I moved back from the UK, but its all gone now. Amazon.co.uk or Boots.co.uk may ship it (but then it becomes legally questionable, I don't know how close stuff like that is watched for at customs).

One super easy thing to help a little is swish some water in your mouth after you east/drink. If you're gonna drink something sugary or acidic, do it quickly, don't sip it.

I have dental care, but the thing we should all be doing is flossing once a day. Brush twice a day. Brushing should take 2-3 minutes. Do a circular motion with your brush and get all of the surfaces clean. Use your tongue to feel for plaque and spot brush to remove that. I hope you can see a dentist sometime in the future.

Cut out soft-drinks in general.

They are not only packed full of sugar, but some very popular ones contain phosphoric acid. If you had to invent an combination of edible ingredients designed to damage tooth enamel, you couldn't do worse. The fact that this is a diet-friendly option is almost a side-benefit. It's that bad.

Watch YouTube videos on how to brush and floss.

I am absolutely taking the L here since I've apparently been brushing my teeth wrong for most of my life.

I'll never get flossing right so water picking has been the next best thing.

I currently spend a 1-2k a year at the dentist, which imo, isn't that bad. But probably way less had I learned proper brushing and had better flossing habits.

Get a Sonicare toothbrush

Brush, floss, no sugar

Waterflossers are better than nothing. Best is floss to get the stuff wedged at the contact, then interdental brushes to get the stuff under the contact - these must be snug, otherwise you're not effectively using them.

Soft and small toothbrush, preferably an electric with a pressure sensor. The counter oscillating Crest/Oral B type is probably the most affordable. Don't need to get the top model. Some only time 2 minutes instead of 30s, so I'd recommend counting to 30 seconds (properly! Not rushing!) and do a quarter of your mouth at a time. Point at the gumline a little when you brush, approximately 45 degrees. You must push your lips and tongue out of the way. Do an extra minute after you're done with 2 minutes. Do this at least twice daily, consider a third time during the day, and you must not skip the one just before you sleep. Do not consume anything but water after this and prior to sleep. Do not get a midnight snack.

Use neutrafluor/prevident 5000 toothpaste, or clinpro 5000. Extra fluoride means extra protection from acid challenges. Use neutrafluor mouthwash if you must use a m/w during the day. Do not rinse the paste off your teeth.

Eliminate where possible from your diet anything sour, tart, or fizzy. That includes soda water and citrus and ACV. Eliminate where possible sweet things, including fruit - especially dried fruit.

Rinse with plain water after eating and drinking.

Common triggers of heartburn are foods that may be fried, fatty, and or spicy. Some people are triggered by dairy or lactose, or eating too late before lying down.

Treat your heartburn by prevention, not relievers. If you experience any symptom relating to heartburn, rinse thoroughly with plain water. Do this too if you vomit for any reason.

If you have dry mouth, try Xylimelts or the new range Freshmelts (this doesn't seem toxic to dogs). You can wear these during your sleep. Also treat the origin of your dry mouth.

...I'm sure I have other tips... But these are the most common ones I make to my patients.

There isn't really anything "extra" you can do at home that you aren't already supposed to be doing to maintain those mouth bones.

You can get dental work for cheap or free by reaching out to dental schools near you. They always need patients for their students.