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Self-Care Toothbrush Tips for Special Needs

Maintaining good oral hygiene can be a challenge, especially if you have developed a health condition that makes brushing and flossing more difficult, or have been in an accident that created new limitations. Dental professionals want to help all dental patients keep their mouths healthy, and they offer these suggestions about oral hygiene.

Dental Brushing Tips

Problems in hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders can hinder a person's ability to brush and floss. While each situation is different, there are some suggestions that have been effective in making dental care easier:

• Use a wide elastic band to attach the toothbrush to your hand for extra gripping power.
• Attach a small rubber ball, a sponge, or a rubber grip to the toothbrush handle with strong tape. This enhances gripping power and is often useful when hand or arm movement is weakened or limited.
• Use a longer wooden dowel, a ruler, or plastic rod to lengthen the toothbrush handle, wrapping it securely with strong tape. This longer length may help in more easily reaching your mouth.
• Use an electric or sonic toothbrush.

Dental Flossing Tips

If limitations make brushing and oral hygiene harder, flossing may be an even bigger challenge. Depending on your limitations, try these techniques:

• Use a piece of floss, about 18" long, and wind one end of floss around each finger instead of holding it. This will increase your grip and prevent the floss from dropping out of your fingers with each tooth you floss.
• Hold the floss tightly and seesaw it back and forth between the teeth, instead of pushing the floss right through.
• Tie the floss into a long circle instead of using one long piece, which may make it easier to hold and less likely to drop from your hands.
• Try using a floss holder, available wherever oral hygiene products are sold.

By Danine M. Fresch, DDS

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.

Oral Hygiene and Bad Breath

Bad breath (halitosis) has been the subject of a lot of laughter and some pretty bad TV commercials over the years. Yet, if you're like nearly one in five patients dentists see, you know the embarrassment and insecurity it can bring.

There's no one reason for persistent halitosis. You may have the very best dental hygiene in the world, and still suffer from bad breath. Sometimes it's undiagnosed periodontal disease. Or it could be sinus problems or digestive ailments brought on by stress or other factors. Even though the primary cause of persistent halitosis is almost always a treatable medical condition, millions of dollars are spent yearly for mouthwashes and breath fresheners that barely mask the problem, much less solve it.

Because dentists and dental hygienists take halitosis seriously, some offices have established Fresh Breath Centers. These Centers are dedicated to determining the source and extent of a patient's dental health problem and then treating the cause, not simply covering it up.

If halitosis is a problem for you, you are encouraged to visit an office near you. Their approach will be as thorough and as caring as it is with any of other professional dental procedures. You'll begin with a breath gas analysis that identifies and measures odors. Based on the findings, a simple, effective treatment program will be recommended - so you won't have to worry about bad breath again.

If this problem is undermining your self-confidence, practice preventive dentistry and please call a Fresh Breath Center near you for a consultation. You can schedule an analysis, and get back on the road to breathing freely again.

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.