Where Did You Learn “How To” Take Care of Your Mouth?
Have you ever given thought to the way that you take care of your mouth?
Do you know how you really learned these rituals that you perform daily? The way you brush, the products you use, the way you hold your toothbrush, and the pressure that you put on the handle of the brush. Have you ever given thought to exactly what it is that you are doing when you are in there?We are told to brush, floss and visit the dentist twice a year (more or less for a few), but are we ever given the “how to” skills needed to actually get the job done right? This is a question that I have had for quite some time.If we are lucky, we learn how to brush from our parents when we are young. Sometimes a nurse will train us when we are in grade school, but when do we get to the place that as adults someone teaches us the “how to” of taking care of our adult mouths?
What really happens at the dental office?
It seems as if the modern day dental visits are backwards. As a dental hygienist we lean people back, assess the health or disease of their mouth, look at the “pockets” for health or disease and then use our professional instruments to scrape the teeth, clean the gums and polish the teeth.
At the end of the appointment you are typically given a “goody bag” that consists of a toothbrush, some floss and maybe a small tube of toothpaste.Rarely, it seems that hygienists engage people at the beginning of the appointment about what a healthy area looks like in their mouth, what an area that has plaque or tartar on it, and what the gums look like around the area that has the buildup. How you hold your toothbrush and the way that you use it, and what other products you could use.
But what if hygienists did work backwards? What if they looked at teeth and gums first? While you (the patient) were you were sitting up, ready to take it all in and learn. What if they opened up the toothbrush that you get at the end of the appointment and showed you how to engage it in the places that you miss, the crowded or crooked teeth, the filling or crown that always irritates you by catching food or always bleeds……what if hygienists actually helped you learn in a way that you could grasp as an adult, not as a child?
Could the "how to" be the most important factor?
What we need are advanced classes for oral health. From what I can see, most of us know how to brush for the sake of brushing, but rarely do we as a whole know how to maneuver the tools that we are given or purchase, and rarely do we know the advanced ways to take care of our mouths for a lifetime.When you know how to really take care of your mouth, randomly enough, you need little to no work. Why? Because you have the skills to know what areas of your mouth are clean and healthy and which areas may need a bit more attention.
When you know what you know, it shows
Luckily there is such a course, and it is one that you can do at home, on your own time, without a beaming light in your face and sharp instruments in your mouth. It guides you through the advanced and basic details. The “how to” for gum massaging, the “how to” for plaque and breath control, the “how to” for flossing and alternatives when you just don't want to floss and the “how to” in becoming self sufficient for a lifetime is what you will learn.You never know when your favorite dentist may retire, or your favorite hygienist may move away, or heaven forbid when you lose the luxury of dental insurance, but I can guarantee you that if you know the “how to” when it comes to taking care of your mouth, you will be free of the fear of the unknown and you won’t HAVE to rely on seeing a dentist to tell you what you “should” or “shouldn’t” be doing.
To learn more, please click the link here and visit 21 Days to a Healthy Mouth. This is a self guided course that will teach you the basic and advanced tips to taking care of your mouth for a lifetime.What is your biggest challenge when it comes to the health of your mouth, or maybe the mouth of someone you love like a child or aging parent?
Leave a comment and lets connect!Carrie
