General Dental Care

Recommendations for ALL patients:

• • Brush your teeth for two minutes after each meal if possible (at least 2-3 times per day), especially in the morning and before bedtime.
  • Rinse vigorously with water if you cannot brush after every meal use a fluoride toothpaste and non-alcoholic mouthrinse (e.g., Crest Prohealth or Listerine Total Care Zero).

Floss once a day

• Decrease or stop drinking sugary and/or acidic drinks (sodas, juices, sweet tea). Managing HOW you drink these is important. (Gulp instead of sipping). Switch from a bottle to a can, and avoid chewing ice and other very hard foods.
• Have a dental checkup, professional cleaning, and in-office fluoride rinse or varnish AT LEAST every 6 months.
• X-rays at least once a year (every 6 months recommended for some patients). See your family doctor for a medical checkup AT LEAST once a year.
• Chew TUMS with calcium (antacid) once a day.
• Smokers: limit to less than one pack a day, and of course, quitting would be great if you can.

We STRONGLY recommended the following for patients who are  at high risk for cavities, in addition to the above recommendations:

• X-rays and in-office fluoride varnish (instead of rinse) every 6 months.
• Carifree treatment rinse (CTx4) twice a day for at least one month.
• Continue with Carifree maintenance rinse (CTx3) as your mouthrinse AT LEAST once a day instead of regular rinses.*
• Use Carifree neutralizing toothpaste (recommended) or extra fluoride toothpaste (Prevident) instead of regular toothpaste.*
• Switch to using Xylitol as a sugar substitute.*
• If you like gum or mints, two pieces of Xylitol gum or mints (Spry) three times a day for at least five minutes each time.
• *Carifree and Spry products are available for purchase at our office, on Carifree.com, Amazon.com, or Vitacost.com. Xylitol products can be found on Zappgum.com and Xylitolusa.com.

As always, for more information or if you have any questions please ask us!