When you have diabetes, you need to be exceptionally careful with your health. Along with making sure you try to control your glucose levels, you also need to make sure you are careful with things like hangnails, bug bites, and other things that are small concerns for others but that can spell out big trouble for a diabetic. Another area where you will need to be more careful than the non-diabetic person is with regards to your dental care. Here are dental care tips for you if you have diabetes:
Work closely with your dentist
While the average person may try to get away with annual dental visits, although most dentists recommend bi-annual visits, you may need to go in even more frequently. Make sure you follow your dentist's recommendations on how many times a year you come in, and never skip an appointment, even if you really feel that things are fine with your teeth.
Watch what you eat
Along with making sure you don't eat foods that will have a negative effect on your diabetes, you also want to go out of your way to avoid foods that are hard on your teeth, such as eating foods with high acidic levels.
Brush after each meal
As a diabetic, you want to brush half an hour after every meal. The half an hour waiting period will give your teeth time to harden back up if something you have eaten has softened the enamel. This will help to prevent you from damaging more of your enamel accidentally while brushing.
Use the right toothbrush
It's very important for you to make sure you use a good brand of toothbrush and that you choose to go with soft bristles. Don't brush your teeth roughly, but do so with gentle strokes. Don't use electronic toothbrushes, even ones with soft bristles. When you use an electric one you may be brushing them harder than you realize, and since the head will move much faster, it will be harder on the enamel.
Know when to see your dentist
You won't want to put off seeing your dentist if you exhibit any warning signs of dental issues. Some of these signs include a toothache, red or inflamed gums, a sudden onset of bad breath, a problem with any teeth like dark spots or looseness, an ulcer in your mouth or even an abnormally dry mouth.
Contact a dentist office like http://www.thefamilydentist-lakeland.com for more information and assistance.
Share24 June 2017
Do you have "bad teeth"? I do. Ever since I was a kid, every checkup turns up a number of issues ranging from cavities to dental fractures. It has always been frustrating to keep my smile in decent shape, which is one of the reasons I started focusing on understanding different dental problems. I wanted to know what I was getting into when I visited the doctor, so I began focusing on learning as much as I could. I wanted to create this blog all about dentistry so that other people could find out what to expect when they head to the dentist. Check it out!
