 Hello everybody, Andrea here. So let's talk about your dental hygiene, oral care, and what your dental hygienist really loves it when you do. And the answers may surprise you. So flossing isn't the be all end all. It's truly not. I'm a very realistic dental hygienist. So if a patient tells me they're not gonna floss, they don't care, I'm not gonna yell at them and tell them they have to floss. I'm just not going to do it. When a patient even tells me that they don't brush every day, I'm not gonna yell at them and tell them they should. I'm going to help them and really figure out how we can make their teeth and mouth as healthy as possible. But let me tell you in a perfect world, what I would love everybody to do and what I do in my own mouth. So what I really love to talk to patients about is the basics. So eating, drinking, anything, you can have sugar, you can have candy, it might not be healthy for you. It's not good for your teeth, but you gotta live your life. But what I would love everybody to do is have water. So if you drink juice, alcohol, pop, if you're eating anything, have water with it. Because what water does is water helps to neutralize any acids in the mouth. Anytime you're eating or drinking something, you're introducing acids, stuff in your mouth that's changing the pH, causing cavities basically. Not to mention what it's doing to your health depending on what you're eating or drinking, but that's another video for another day. I don't eat the healthiest either. So I can't really preach you guys on healthy eating. But what I do do is I always drink water, especially if I'm having a bag of chips, popcorn, candy, drinking a pop even, I'm going to have water. And I don't just drink water, but when I'm done my eating or drinking whatever else, I'm going to take a big sip of water and use it kind of like a mouthwash. So I take a sip of water and I do that for 10 seconds. I'm swishing it around my mouth to really cleanse my mouth. Better yet, if I'm home, I'm going to brush my teeth, but we don't always have that luxury of working from home or being at home. If you're eating out at a restaurant, you can't brush your teeth, right? So just have a sip of water, a drink of water, swish it around your mouth, and then that will really help you limit those acids in the mouth, protecting your teeth, protecting the gums, all of that against cavities. So I love everybody to do that. I tell that to kids, adults, it doesn't matter with brushing. Yes, ideally I want you guys to brush every day twice a day once in the morning after breakfast and then once at night just before you go to bed. I say in the morning after breakfast because you're eating something and then you're probably not going to eat for at least a couple of hours, if not more after that. So after you brush, your mouth is as clean as possible. If you brush as soon as you wake up and then eat breakfast and then you're not brushing until that evening, that's a big wide range of your mouth having those unhealthy pH balances and potentially causing cavities. So even to be even better, I suggest brushing in the middle of the day to when you get home. So even if you come home from work, brush your teeth. After lunch, if you're home, brush your teeth. That's what I do just to really help to limit any bacteria, any causity, cavity causing bacteria. And yes, I do like toothpaste. Some people ask me, can I just brush without toothpaste? Well, you can, but toothpaste really has those therapeutic benefits. It's like your hair. Shampoo conditioner has benefits for your hair. You can wash your hair with just water, but are you really washing your hair? Not really. You can wash your hair with just shampoo for us ladies, but we need conditioner to really do a good job. So toothpaste is the same. You can brush your teeth with just water. That mechanical removing of the plaque is getting that plaque off, but you're missing the therapeutic benefits such as a fluoridated toothpaste that can remineralize any little microscopic cracks in the tooth, wearing away, thinning enamel, little cavities. I love toothpaste with fluoride, but that's my personal opinion. I'm not telling all of you guys to use a toothpaste with fluoride. If you don't like fluoride or it's just against what you wanna do, that's fine. But pick a toothpaste that works for you. If you're asking my opinion, I tell all my patients, kids, adults, two years old, doesn't matter, use a fluoridated toothpaste. The benefits are great. You will have better teeth, stronger teeth if you're using fluoride. To be even more specific, I like a toothpaste that also contains xylitol in it. Xylitol helps to reduce the bacterial load. What fluoride does is that helps to remineralize, so adding things to the teeth to make it stronger, whereas xylitol helps to limit the bacteria in the mouth as a whole, so that way the fluoride on top of it just really helps to cleanse the mouth as much as possible. But be careful, xylitol is very toxic to pets. Don't let your pets eat your tube of toothpaste with xylitol in it. Very toxic to pets, so please be careful. Do I suggest a mouthwash? Yes, I do. So a mouthwash is that extra step. It really depends on patients. If a patient has severe gingivitis, so they have severe gum disease, I'm going to tell them the whole shebang. I'm going to tell them to brush twice a day to use a waterpick. I love waterpicks. I talk about the waterpicks more than flossing and to use mouthwash, the very last thing you're going to do. If you really need the sequence, I say use the waterpick first to clean in between the teeth, all of the teeth, just spray the water in there and then use toothpaste and then use mouthwash afterwards to keep that mouth as clean as possible. But not all mouthwashes are made the same. I don't like to mention certain companies, YouTube doesn't like me to do that, but look for a mouthwash with fluoride and a neutral pH and to be even better, xylitol in it. That's hard to find. Mouthwashes with alcohol in it, they do really kill the bacteria, but they also dry out the mouth too much where it's easier for bacteria to come in again. So I prefer a mouthwash without alcohol, but to each their own, let me know if you guys have questions about that, but it truly, I can't give too much advice without seeing your mouth in person because I suggest different mouthwashes for different people. But again, this video is just a good recap of in a perfect world, what do we love you to do? So in a perfect world, I would say use the water pick first. I love them. I will leave a link for you guys down below on a cordless water pick that I like to use because they can be messy sometimes once you're getting used to it. I use the cordless water pick in the shower. So if you're making a mess, who cares? Then I use toothpaste, a fluoridated toothpaste with xylitol to be specific. I use a mouthwash after that, same thing, a fluoridated mouthwash with xylitol, no alcohol in it, and the toothbrush. Either electric or manual, that's up to you. I like them both, which everyone you prefer to use. When you go see your dental hygienist, at least every six months, he or she will let you know if you're doing a good job with your brushing. If you're brushing every day twice a day using the water pick, the mouthwash, yet you go to see your hygienist and they say to you, oh, you have a lot of plaque on the teeth, a lot of tartar. That might mean you need a different toothbrush. You need a toothbrush that works better for you. So talk to your dental hygienist, but just a recap of what you guys need and what we love for you to do. If you're not flossing, that's okay, but use the water pick instead of flossing. It's easier, quicker, it's more fun. I use the water pick multiple times a day when I'm home. There's always something stuck in there, but I'm that person where I eat multiple times a day, like every two hours. In fact, I'm hungry right now. I'm gonna go eat a bag of chips or something and then rinse with water because that's healthier for you. I'm always eating. So when I'm home, I love to just quickly use the water pick. It takes less than a minute in between the teeth that cleans everything, splashes the water. Your teeth, your mouth will be so much healthier. Even, let's say you have severe gingivitis. That gingivitis can be helped. That gingivitis can be reversed with regular use of the water pick, toothpaste, toothbrush, and mouthwash. If your gums are bleeding with regular use of toothpaste, water pick, mouthwash, the gums can stop bleeding. It doesn't happen overnight. Be consistent. It might take a couple of weeks. It might take longer, depending on how bad the gum disease is, but it will get better. I use the analogy a lot of cleaning your oven. If it's been five years since you've cleaned your oven, can you imagine how hard that's gonna be to clean? You have to scrub, you have to get in there. If it's been six months, you might just have to touch it up a little bit and then you're good to go. It's the same with your mouth. If you've had severe gingivitis for five years, the gums have been bleeding for five years, it's not going to take a day to reverse that. It might take a month. It might take two months, but do it. Comment below, let me know how you guys are doing. I'm so happy to help. If you haven't yet, please click like because that really does help my channel. I do appreciate it so much. And make sure to click subscribe because we're almost at 19,000 subscribers, depending on when you're watching this video. So that'll be exciting to see 19,000. Thank you guys so much. Comment below. I'd love to hear from you guys and I'll talk to you guys in the next video.