 Alright, thanks for staying with us now a healthy lifestyle publication reports that like other areas of the body your mouth themes with bacteria mostly harmless, but your mouth is the Entry point to your digestive and respiratory tach and some of these bacterias can cause disease Normally the body's natural defenses and good oral health care such as daily brushing and flossing keeps the bacterias under control However, without proper oral hygiene bacteria can reach Levels that might lead to oral infection such as tooth decay and gum disease. So we're asking how do you take care of your oral health and you know And also that means Please let's hear what you have to say remember. You can join the conversation Send us an SMS or WhatsApp to the rate one eight zero three four six six three. Let me just confess It's not every time I brush twice CD I know I'm a terrible example But I don't know but I notice though that every time I brush my teeth Morning, then I brush it last thing at night before going to bed. I wake up very fresh and again I wake up like, you know, sometimes I don't know I even have like a headache or something, you know, without brushing but I don't know what is nice My mind is playing a trick on me, but I but I notice that I'm happier and make more excited every time You know, I make that effort even however tired. I am to just brush my teeth in at night before sleeping So I'm I'm very lucky I've not had toothache before the way I hear people say they've had toothache But sometimes I'll have this pain in my gum and I'll just sleep over it and I'll feel fine So constantly I'm procrastinating. I'll go and get it checked And it's almost three years now and one thing too I notice is sometimes too when I brush I probably bleed a little like frequently. I'll bleed a little So thank God we have we have doctor, but let me come to you number How's your oral hygiene? How do you take care of your? Try let me put it that way. I brush not twice a day every day because there those days you just need a bed, right? Yeah, but I I think I do I try to do a good job and then I have had several dental appointments and My doctors have said oh, you're doing a good job. I know the last time I had a little bit of sensitivity to the teeth and Especially when they were trying to clean and I complained about that and they did give me Different kind of toothpaste to use and then after a while it it went so all in all I Turned for my teeth to be complete still when I'm celebrating my 19th birthday So passion for dentistry unparalleled customer service and a transformative vision at what propelled Dr. Amy from operating a small dental practice less than ten years ago to becoming Nigeria's largest and most successful Dental practice today smile 360 and smile 360 has branches and Lagos and abuja and leading an organization of over 90 highly skilled dentists nurses hygienist and support staff doctor Amy and the smile 360 team have become recognized for their cutting-edge technology state-of-the-art Surroundings and advanced dental precedence. You see that always always bring the best She's joined us like she's a friend of the house by the way. So all these things that we are confessing she reassures Thank you so much doc for being here. Thank you. Thanks for having me You know every time we talk about dental we will say we want to see the dentist But I think it's just a bad habit Nigeria's just wait until they have one pain or the other Right, and it was world or oral health. They unfortunately could not join us then but we are here now and all of that important because again people really they really pay attention to The teeth and if you feel a fever you quickly run to your doctor if you're feeling stomach ache and all of that But with oral hygiene not many people understand how it balances your overall health You know, maybe you should help us explain how important is your oral health to your overall health Yes, you know, I love that. Well, thank you for having me on the show And of course every 20th of March is world oral health day and we're still within the 30 days So yeah, let's celebrate that. So of course A lot of people think about going to the dentist only when they have that tooth ache and unfortunately when you get to that stage is more time more work more money and more Discomfort, I don't want to mention the word pain, but really why are we not going to the dentist earlier, right? The last patient I saw came in I was like, okay, I was told to come for a check. What is this check all about? And of course he had some calculus who had some cleaning done and he was not even aware that he had Calculus, you know behind because it settles mainly behind the teeth and there was also To decay that was beginning, you know to settle on on his molars and we're so glad that we captured it while it was still Little early because yes when is lit is really early. There is no pain There is no discomfort at most when it progresses. You could start feeling Sensations when you're eating something sweet or acidic, you know, Neoma talked about sensitivity. Yes And most people think, okay, this is just happening now. Let me wait. It's gotta go You know and if you're lucky, it's Sensitivity stops or the pain, but it doesn't mean that It doesn't progress because it to decay is an infection Hmm an infection that you have in your body once it begins millions of bacteria Nothing can stop it if you don't go to the dentist So really an infection in your mouth is connected to every single aspect of your body and The bacterias could go and log in into your your heart You know your yes, your your lungs and even you know in Make your diabetes situation for example if your diabetes Even worse, so it's important to know that that decay could lead to something even bigger in your overall body So yes, healthy mouth is important for a healthy body You will So I would like to find out So what are the early signs? Okay, let me use myself now. So for the fact I sometimes I'll feel pain and For months, I will not feel pain So I feel like maybe it's just one of those things in your body Do you think maybe there's actually an issue going on there because since there is that gap sometimes for six months I will no longer feel the pain. So I just feel like well It's not something serious. How often should we probably go check have a tooth Check or should we just wait till maybe when there is really a serious pain? Just like people go on routine annual checks to the hospital. Should we do that too for our tooth? Yes, thank you very much for that I think is even more important for your oral health that you go for those periodist check because It doesn't hurt when it's at that little stage And as I said if you wait until you start feeling something it's probably too late because unlike a wound on your skin You know you can heal that back, but anything that happens in your mouth. You don't get it back That's when you say that the tooth is like diamonds, right? Diamond if you lose that chip, it's gone forever, right? So what you want to do is really those periodic check, but let's not talk about tooth decay We'll talk about gum disease. You talk about gum bleeding. Yeah, we can talk about that again But there's one thing that you know, we need to know is oral cancer And that is something that is not if you can detect it so easily by going You know which for your periodic check and it's something that we can also take care of Really at that early stage before it disseminates in our body and it's something that is Most of the time ignored, you know, of course if you have certain habits such as smoking and you know You are more prone to having that but it's something that is real and I'm here as a health professional I've been in this profession for 30 years to be able to tell you that these things are there and we see them So don't wait, please until you know, you've gone too far. So no, I'll come to you for a minute Just give me a second. I want you to stay on this oral cancer. Yes matter again. Just for a bit. How do you know? You know that this is just This is maybe like, you know, they would like symptoms of oral cancer. How would you know that? Alright, so for you, of course, if there's a lesion in your mouth and your oral cavity on the inside of your cheeks on your tongue On the floor of your mouth or, you know, the roof of your mouth, the palate And you realize that that lesion may not be even painful and that's the funny part, right, but it's there For several weeks, maybe several months, right might be growing or not You should go to the dentist, right? But when you go for your period check, the dentist actually looks at the teeth, the gum But also looks at around your mouth to see if there are no Lesions of such that we can see and sometimes we do biopsy to be able to say, oh Thank God, this was nothing to worry about or sometimes we're able to actually detect it The routine checks that I'm going to ask now. We're looking at once every quarter every six months Yeah, okay, once every six months, every six months Maybe some people that have gum problem will ask them to come a bit, you know, every three months Yeah, so every quarter they come in Okay, Nama, please come in Alright, Dr. Amy, wow, that was, um, you gave us reason In fact, the moment you said to decay is an infection, I said, that made me sit up Because I know what infections do generally when somebody's running a fever or a child is running a fever You know that there's an infection somewhere So I wanted to ask that apart from brushing and flossing and basic hygiene that we carry out What other hygiene advice would you have for somebody just to be able to just daily care for their tooth And also for those who have like sensitive teeth, what kind of toothbrushes or toothpaste I mean, I know they have the sensitive toothpaste, but what kind of brushes Because sometimes you might want to get something hard, even though you don't smoke But just for cleaning, just to make sure that your teeth is clean and you want to brush and brush But sometimes you also find that that damages all kinds of teeth Because I don't particularly subscribe to too soft toothbrushes I feel that they don't do anything So what's your advice? I don't see why you're washing Thank you Thank you for that So I can tell you what, you said it all, brushing very important at least twice a day Flossing very important We also have those what you call intoproximal toothbrushes that do even better than flossing So I think your dentist can show you how to use these brushes even better But definitely there is a fact that when you have sensitive teeth Your dentist will be able to tell you why your teeth are sensitive You know, what's your diet? Because you see what goes in, you know, reflects in your mouth So if you're taking a lot of acidic fruits, you know, you want to watch that So sensitivity could be due to even the position of your teeth, what you eat How you brush, of course, as you said it Don't use toothbrushes that are too hard I will go with soft Now we even have extra soft Just to tell you that you don't need hard toothbrushes Medium, if you feel like you want to feel the bristles But to be honest, if you have a soft toothbrush, you know, you're good It's a good job And you have a good technique, yes And you go over your gums and teeth Go over your gums and teeth when you're brushing It's so important that we remember to brush our gums Gum and teeth Yes We'll be taking a break Gum Hold on, hold on Let's take a very short break from you, right back Alright, thanks for staying with us Now if you're just tuned in, we're discussing how to take care of our oral health And we have with us Dr. Amy Now please let's hear what you have Say remember, you can join the conversation Send us an SMS or WhatsApp to the red one 80384663 You can also do that as a wish or after woman hashtag wish show Alright, so Nama, you had a follow-up question And I have a question for Dr. Nama, come to you, Gloria Yes, I did So Dr. Amy, I wanted to find out about dry mouth Now people who experience dry mouth, what could possibly be the cause of having dry mouth And is it also part of what makes them to have a mouth odor? And then I wanted to also find out if dental x-rays are safe And if they're needed Alright, thank you, Nama We came for you today Yes, she's ready, she's really done quite a bit of research So Nama, definitely dry mouth, I think there's no better time to talk about that Because we have the lenses and people are fasting We have the Ramadan, where people are fasting So we know that most of the time during the day, you know, those who are fasting will be having a dry mouth Of course, if there's less liquid intake, saliva, there's less circulation of saliva You tend to have a dry mouth And the mouth could actually not have a fresh breath, okay? So we are prone to having a bit of, you know, halitosis It's the technical word for it So you want to make sure you hydrate whenever you're able to drink quite a bit And the other source, apart from when you're fasting of having dry mouth is when you're having some medication I'm very allergic, for example, I take all this anti-stemic, you know, I take it at night But I know throughout the day, the effect is there You're taking certain form of antibiotics that could also lead to dry mouth So you will tend to be prone to having halitosis, you know If you're having some of this medication I mean, some other conditions, general conditions, if you're a diabetic patient You know, you could because of the diabetes or because of the medication you're taking having a dry mouth, a dry mouth equals, you know, an issue Not having a fresh breath, okay? So when you're dehydrated, right? So that can cause, what's it called? The halitosis, yes But it's really because your salivary glands are not functioning optimally or producing enough saliva So any situation that, you know, because you already also have people who are mouth breathers I see a lot of children because they have problem with their sinuses or, you know, they can't breathe They breathe through the mouth And the parents are like, I don't understand why my child It's not having a fresh breath But it's really because he breathes through the mouth And the mouth is dry So as soon as you have a dry mouth, less saliva You're prone to having, you know, not having a fresh breath But you also are prone to more gum disease, you know, your gums bleeding more Prone to having more tooth decay because the saliva has a function in washing our teeth and protecting our teeth and gums So if you gargle, would it help? For instance, for those that are fasting, right? So in between your fasting, you know, you can't take water But at least you can just put in the water, gargle and spit it out, would it help? Is that works for, yes Okay, so she talked about X-rays, safety of X-rays Safety of X-ray, thanks for bringing that up X-rays are much safer now than ever Because regiology is now digital, all right? So the exposure has one divided by 20 or more, right? So now that we have digital X-rays We could tell you that in some dental offices in the state, for example The dental X-ray is actually in the middle of the reception You know, just to tell you that they don't really put so many screens and protection and lead because the radiation is so minimal, all right? So I will tell you that it's something that we need to be protected especially around the thyroid and all that But the radiation has really been, you know, dramatically reduced and less risk Okay, so speaking to mouth-order I don't know your medical terminology So we noticed that, I noticed that, you know, some people, they would like to produce more, the tonsil stones or whatever it is it's called You know, and if you notice that tonsil stone, when you're able to brush and it comes off, it comes out of your mouth, is that yellowish-tick thing like brown, you know, when you smell it, it has a foul smell Right, so how, first of all, what consists tonsil stones? Because I mean, someone called me and said, you know, that they need to go and do surgery to remove tonsil stones, I said, I never heard of them before But I mean, she is abroad, so what consists tonsil stones and how can we better manage it? Because I know that the more the stones gather, the more you have bad breath Correct, so how do we correct that? Thanks for bringing that up because, you know, we need to be able to connect the mouth with the rest of the body, right? So while you have bad breath, it could be due to something that you have, you know, you have problem in your stomach, you know, just to use basic terms, right? You could have problems in your upper, you know, airways as well So while the dentist, you know, looks at the mouth, you know that there's an ENT that should be involved, there's a gastroenterologue also, the people who are in charge of the stomach who also could come to detect that that's the cause of the bad breath, right? And not necessarily, you know, so I probably will ask an ENT colleague to be able to speak more in detail about that, you know, because it goes beyond the oral cavity, you know It goes beyond the oral cavity Okay That's a lot So I've heard people say they have weak tooth and they cannot chew hard stuff but I don't really get that What does that mean? Okay, okay Alright, so two things, it could come from the fact that the teeth are also have weak enamel, you know have people who are brushing like kings three times a day are flossing like bosses, you know No mother is looking for hard brush and using mouth washes, let's not focus mouth washes, you know And at the end of the day, we have enamels that are chipping away from their teeth but that's due to how, you know, the enamel was formed and was weak during the formation of the tooth So nothing that they have cost is just sometimes hereditary factors but there's also another aspect where someone could say I can't chew because his muscles are really weak, you know or he gets really tired after a little time after chewing but that is really due to the fact that maybe while he's sleeping, he's actually clenching You know, there's so much pressure in his teeth, you know and so much pressure in his muscles that he's not able to chew for a long time because the muscles really get tired So now it's an opportunity for me to speak about stress and how stress affects your oral health, all right So if you're stressed, there's an impact on your muscles, an impact on your tongue an impact on the joints between the jaws and that could lead to even much more in your ears, in your balance, in your neck, in your back And I've had to see a patient one day who's like, I'm going to have surgery on my back and I said, wait a minute, what's the problem? Oh, I do hear some sounds in my ear, I have tension in my neck, I'm back and my doctor said, I said, let's try something and we give him an appliance, okay an oral appliance that just changes life nothing invasive and he was able to sleep like a baby, wake up energized and all the tension in his body got and that's what somebody was taking really heavy analgesics for many, many years So again, a dentist, you know, is the person who can take care of diagnosing certain things even before you go deep into surgery so don't minimize the role of a dentist So before we go, I cannot not but talk about kissing because me I'm not a fan of, you know How do you, especially when you want to maintain a love relationship with your partner and, you know, bad breath and all of that So how do you, how do you manage it? And really this kissing, especially this deep truth wanting, wanting that they are putting saliva mixture, how safe is it for those things? Doctor, you have to talk about kissing No, we have to talk about it This is real, right? So we'll talk about bad breath, we'll talk about socially the powerful smile and look at the smiles here, you know and the smile, you know, has power where there is that at the personal level or at the professional level, you know you can use your smile to change the world and the smile can take you miles away, you know, in your profession as well So let's not neglect that So of course, in a relationship, oral health is at the center of that relationship, you know I had people saying, look, I can't go forward with this relation, you know and they trick the fiancé to come to the the clinic, you know, by saying, okay we're having a couple, just like a couple massage, you're having a couple clinic really because they're like, you know, this has to be It's not working Yes, it is You know, and luckily we have the opportunity to fix that and yeah, it's important, it's important, all right So saliva exchange, is this safe? Well, I will say so far it's not cost any issues as long as in Sweden a certain range because definitely there's bacteria, millions of bacteria in our mouth millions of bacteria on this side, you know as long as the bacteria are friendly to each other, right and of course we have regular routines where we don't keep the bacteria time is a factor whatever you bring into your mouth, into the space if you don't keep it there for longer because you're having your routine hygiene, we're back to zero, right So let's make sure that we speak To touch more on oral sex, I wait you come Let us finish that, we have to finish that Guys, you didn't tell me we're gonna go deep We have to go deep on We're talking oral health day People do things and they just think, oh I'm in love So touch a little bit on oral sex, how safe is it? All right, so we definitely will say that it's something that is not encouraged because they are two different, remember we talk about bacteria from the mouth, bacteria from the mouth Okay, we know each other, hello, you know But if it's a different space Different bacteria It's different bacteria Yes, sir All right, so this is what we have to say here is that yes, and we talk about oral cancer, right So you don't want to bring anything that would disturb disturb the flora of the mouth right by bringing some foreign, you know, body there But again, there is also the time factor whatever comes in, just like what you eat Don't keep it long, if you don't brush If you don't, you know So just remember to have that routine, you know as soon as possible Okay, so I hope I've answered your question without at the same time Yes, yes We could talk about cursing Can I ask you a question? Yes Ha, wait, very worth to ask a question But keep it short because we have like two minutes to go Go ahead So hold on Yeah, very, very short Yeah, so hold on Go ahead There is this saying that people with gap tooth are more prone to having dental issues because it's true when you eat you have things stuck in there when come That's why most people are probably going from braces And how true is that? Well, I will say, well, gap tooth already there's a social aspect, you know So people like it Some people don't like it It depends on where the gap is, okay So I'm an orthodontist and I've been doing this for how many years now? 22 years And I can tell you that it's something that we take care of every day right by closing the gaps and of course if it's in front aesthetically pleasing culturally accepted you know good for you but if it's something that is no longer accepted accepted we can close the gap, okay but really if you're having a gap now because you've missed a tooth that's something else, right and that has to be replaced and you know that technology has come to make dentistry so affordable and beautiful fun and you know so predictable right so yes All right, so just about rinsing rinsing of the mouth is it I mean is it should people rinse their mouth after brushing or is there anything wrong with not rinsing because I'm always on my daughter's case like have you rinsed your mouth she shows brushing as she's done I'm like but you haven't rinsed your mouth so is there a problem so that that will satisfy my own conscience today All right, thank you very much for that is there a problem with rinsing the mouth yeah All right Nehama actually actually your daughter might be right okay because in the in the toothpaste that we have especially for children we have fluoride and then the fluoride that we have and sometimes they don't brush for the time that we want so if she doesn't you know she will spit out if she doesn't rinse actually we keep the fluoride much longer around the teeth and that may even help her even more so I've had pediatrician I mean dental pediatric dentist telling their patient brush and do not rinse okay so I will say nothing to worry about you know so let me just swallow a bit more of the toothpaste as well we sometimes they do when we're not watching wow okay Nehama you have a comment quickly okay let me see sorry trying to find it all right okay so I have a comment here it says good evening my dear beautiful sisters of what are you saying hashtag wings how can we take care of our oral health simple we need to brush well and frequently if possible twice a day the use of mouth wash is very important to maintain a fresh breath but still the dentist is also important when brushing we must not ignore the tongue it is a very important part of the mouth sister Uwa I must confess today you look beautiful lovely and good good-looking Mr. Sally is blessed to have you my name is Daniel Dilo hashtag wait your regular thank you Daniel well quickly mouth wash because you touched on it a bit is this safe because I've seen a lot of videos that talk about mouth wash how they are not safe then there's a particular pH to look out for even though if you want to use mouth wash yes so the mouth wash is even for right to paste yeah go ahead okay there are varieties of mouth washes out there you know I will always say my favorite is what warm salted water just half a glass of warm water with a teaspoon done that does the work okay now avoid using listerine did I mention it well sorry hey hey hey good dog name avoid using mouth washes that have alcohol because I have some patients who come and say I use this particular brand and I use it every day I'm like come on remember that flora there's a reason why this was made you know you're killing the balance of the of the best mouth wash half a glass of warm water a tablespoon of a teaspoon of salt yes and just gaggle but your dentist can recommend there are several but your dentist will let you know the one you should use but avoid we have to bring your alcohol avoid the ones that have so much alcohol thank you so much Dr. Amy I'm so glad to be here thank you everyone thank you number thank you glorie now before we go ensure you follow us on Instagram when you see my teeth next time follow us across all social media hand is that way sure Africa you can interact with us further drop a comment or more importantly follow all our engagements on social media like and share and invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation now if you missed our quote for today here it is again every tooth in a man's head is more valuable than diamond they hear so treat it with care visit Dr. Amy she'll take good care of you see you guys tomorrow at 8 p.m as we bring another great conversation to your screen enjoy