You have an important and exciting date for Valentine’s Day? Whether it’s a blind date, or a romantic evening with your spouse of 25 years, you must consider how to be prepared. Your oral and dental health should be a big deal!
When you think of your mouth, you mostly consider of your breath. It is essential to keep all aspects of your mouth healthy, and the breath will naturally follow. Here’s what you should do to make sure you are ready and kissable for Valentine’s Day.
Dental cleaning
A professional dental cleaning, performed by a dentist or a hygienist, would remove all the tartar from around your teeth. It would also eliminate lingering dental plaque. Tartar is hard and adheres to teeth. Brushing and flossing at home cannot remove it. Special instruments must be used by trained people to detach tartar from teeth surfaces
Tartar is hardened dental plaque that contains stinky bacterial colonies, which contributes a lot to bad breath.
Dental exam
Even if your teeth are clean, you might still have other problems in your mouth. Dental cavities and gum disease are a source of microorganisms that emanate bad odours, but also can be transmissible while kissing!
Your dentist can check your teeth and gums, as well as all other places of your mouth. This exam will detect all problems, if there are any, and you may choose proper treatment.
Brushing
Brushing your teeth goes without saying. If you brush your teeth at least twice a day, or if you can after each meal, you would remove most food debris from the meal you ate. You will also help prevent dental problems.
Flossing
Brushing alone does not clean all the teeth surfaces. A toothbrush cannot go in between your teeth to remove food debris and dental plaque. Aged dental plaque that is not eliminated will harbour odorous colonies of bacteria that will contribute to bad breath. It’s important to floss at least once day. Every day, not just Valentine’s Day.
Cleaning your tongue
Pull out your tongue in front of a mirror and take a look. Is it pink? If not, it means that you have food debris on it, which is quite smelly.
Your tongue must be pink in colour. To clean your tongue, you can simply use your toothbrush. If the toothbrush is too big and you tend to gag, you may purchase a tongue scraper that is smaller than a toothbrush and will be more confortable to use in order to clean your tongue.
Mouthwash
Mouthwash may have a minty taste that can freshen your mouth. It can also kill superficial bacteria that are smelly.
But the effect of mouthwash is temporary. It will not clean your mouth from tartar and plaque. It will not heal dental or gum problems. Mouthwash is a momentary camouflage to bad breath.
Stinky foods
Many foods can be good for you (or less good), but can increase bad breath tremendously:
- garlic and onions;
- some spices;
- coffee;
- alcohol;
- tuna and fish.
Put in mind that water is a liquid that may reduce temporarily bad breath.
Smoking
Smoking causes bad breath and there’s no way to get around it. I don’t have to explain this one.
