Dental Health Week 2021: Keep Your Smile for Life | Warner Lakes Dental

Dental Health Week – what is it?

Dental Health Week (DHW) takes place each year in the first full week of August, and this year, DHW will be August 2 –8. The theme for 2021 is Keep Your Smile for Life.

DHW aims to educate Australians on the key daily steps they should be taking to keep their teeth and gums healthy.

4 Key Messages

The 4 key messages of the 2021 DHW campaign aim to reinforce the importance of maintaining good oral health throughout a person’s life:

1) Brush teeth at least twice a day with fluoride-containing toothpaste for two minutes each time.

When brushing your teeth, you remove food particles and plaque — a sticky white film that forms on your teeth and contains bacteria.

After eating a meal that contains sugar, the bacteria in plaque produce acids that attack tooth enamel.

In time, the acid can break down tooth enamel, causing cavities. Plaque that isn’t removed can also harden into tartar, making it harder to keep teeth clean. Tartar build-up on your gums leads to inflammation that causes gum disease.

2) Clean between your teeth every day with floss or interdental brushes. Flossing helps remove bacteria, plaque, and food from between your teeth, and it reduces the likelihood of tooth decay and gum disease.

3) Maintain a healthy, balanced diet and limit added sugar consumption. For healthy living and healthy teeth and gums, think before you eat and drink.

It’s not only what you eat but the time you eat that can affect your dental health. Eat a balanced diet and limit in-between-meal snacks.

4) Visit your Warner dentist for check-ups and preventive dental care. A dental check-up is important as they help keep your teeth and gums healthy.

You should have a regular dental visit at least every six months or as recommended by your dental professional.

Add these up, and you lower the chance of suffering tooth decay or gum disease. And that means less time in the dentist chair undergoing costly treatments.

Look After Your Dental Health

It should not be a normal expectation that at some point in your life, teeth will need to be pulled because of tooth decay or gum (periodontal) disease.

Australians should expect to keep their teeth for life, and practising these four simple routines can help people to achieve this goal.

After all, you don’t expect to lose an arm or leg, so why expect to lose any of your teeth?

Tempting as it is to think that people are practising good oral hygiene, the reality is that the oral health of many Australians is not close to where it should be.

• 75% of adults rarely or never floss or clean between their teeth.
• 1 out of 5 adults brushes only once per day.
• 39% of parents report their children drink 2-5 softdrinks per week.
• 2 out of 3 adults usually visit their dentist for a problem than a dental check-up.
• 47% of adults consume too much added sugar.

Keep Your Smile for Life!

Your natural teeth are the best ones you have. While modern dentistry has amazing treatment options such as dental implants, cosmetic dentistry and dental restoration, these should be a last resort.

Hanging onto your actual teeth is a much better (and much cheaper) option.

Visit your Warner dentist for a consultation today!

For more information, call us on (07) 3448 0162 or visit us online.

We are located at Warner Lakes Medical Precinct, 1185B Old North Road in Warner.