22 Jun 2020
Child at the Dentist

A healthy smile is an essential component to a healthy lifestyle. Our North Palm Beach dentist has some tips to help you get a healthy smile for life! With proper dental care and preventative treatment, you can get the healthy & beautiful smile of your dreams! Keep reading to learn more about how you can achieve your goal smile.

Start Dental Care Off Right


Prioritize dental health starting at a young age. This helps to teach kids the importance of maintaining a healthy smile and can encourage good habits for life. Throughout our lives, our oral health will play a big role in our overall health. Your teeth and gums can show signs of underlying health issues and can be an indicator of illness. By teaching kids how to properly care for their smile, you can help them have healthy teeth & gums well into adulthood. Children should be brushing their teeth twice per day with fluoride toothpaste, and they should always floss before bed. Visiting the dentist twice per year is also necessary to ensure that their whole smile stays free of cavities and gum disease.

Invest in Sealants


Dental sealants help to protect our teeth from cavities in hard to reach areas. The grooves on the surface of our teeth can easily develop cavities because they can be difficult to clean. Dental sealants seal off these areas to protect them from the harmful effects of dental decay. Sealants are a thin plastic coating that covers the surface of your teeth. Kids and teenagers benefit from dental sealants the most because teeth are extremely vulnerable to cavities from ages 6-14. Our North Palm Beach dentist can help you understand how dental sealants may be able to protect your family’s smiles!

Use Fluoride to Strengthen Teeth


Fluoride is a naturally-occurring mineral that helps to strengthen and protect the enamel of our teeth. This is necessary to protect our teeth from dental decay throughout our lives. You can find fluoride in the water we drink, the toothpaste we use, mouthwash rinses, and we also offer fluoride treatments here at our office. Our teeth need fluoride to stay healthy & protected, so it is essential that you utilize it whenever possible. Fluoride adds an extra layer of strength to help offset enamel damage and prevent the buildup of plaque.

Avoid Sugar & Acid


Sugary and acidic substances can wear down our enamel and leave our smile at risk for dental decay. Your teeth only get one layer of enamel, and it can not be replaced once it is lost. It is so important to limit your sugar intake so that you can avoid the development of cavities and dental decay. Weakened enamel can also cause tooth sensitivity and discomfort, which can be incredibly painful for some patients. There are some ways you can monitor your sugar intake at any age. Choose water over soda whenever possible, and try not to eat too much junk food. Everything is fine in moderation, but be sure to follow up any sugar consumption with some water or brush your teeth soon afterward. Acidic substances can also be dangerous for your smile, so try to avoid them as well. Talk to our North Palm Beach dentist to learn more about how you can better protect your smile.

Maintain Dental Appointments


You should visit our office every six months for a full dental cleaning and examination. Even if you think you are taking excellent care of your smile, you can still be at risk for oral health issues. Once plaque forms on our teeth and hardens into tartar, it can only be removed by a dentist. Dr. Casel will use a scaler to remove this hardened tartar so that your smile can be thoroughly cleaned. If tartar is left on your teeth for too long, it can lead to dental decay and gum disease. The best way to treat a dental emergency is to prevent one from happening in the first place, so be sure to stay up to date on your dental appointments.