Between-Meal Cleaning

At Stewart & Hull Aesthetic & General Dentistry in Comstock Park we always remind our patients to brush their teeth after every meal. Happily, most of our patients take that advice to heart.

But what are you supposed to do in the middle of the day? You’re out and about, and your usual stuff – that favorite toothbrush and paste, the container of dental floss – is at home in the bathroom.

What’s the best way to keep your teeth clean between meals?

One of the best things you can do is rinse your mouth with water after you eat. It’s no substitute for brushing and flossing, of course, but will give your whole mouth a quick cleansing.

A quick brushing is good, too. One trick is what we call dry brushing. That means brushing your teeth without toothpaste. Yes, it sounds a bit strange – but it’s effective, especially if you can use a little water, too. It isn’t the way you would brush at home, of course, but it’s going to clean the surfaces of your teeth – and that’s half the battle.

The other half of the battle is the stuff that gets between your teeth. A good solution here is using floss picks. In the short-term they’re a good stand-in for regular dental floss, and because they have a little handle, you can do it one-handed and without the aid of a mirror. (Just be sure you use regular floss later on, before bed.)

Another effective trick is chewing sugarless gum. It only takes about five minutes of chewing to get the benefits. The gum will remove a lot of the surface debris from your teeth. It also gets your saliva going, which in turn promotes re-mineralization, the process of replacing minerals in your teeth.

At Stewart & Hull Aesthetic & General Dentistry in Comstock Park we want all of our patients to take care of their teeth during the day. People from Ada, Belmont, Grand Rapids, Sparta, Walker and Rockford, MI schedule appointments for cosmeticfamily and restorative dentistry. Call for your next checkup with us today!

Contact Stewart & Hull Aesthetic & General Dentistry:

616-784-2377

Location (Tap to open in Google Maps):

769 York Creek Dr NW
Comstock Park, Michigan
49321