Home Care Instructions 
holistic biological iaomt dentist charlotte, nc
Paul Plascyk, D.D.S.

If you understand the facts, you know that keeping your mouth clean 
and healthy is as important as proper nutrition and exercise!


There are two things that will prevent future dental disease once existing dental disease is treated:

    1) A balanced bite or occlusion (click)

    2) Proper home care (brushing and flossing) (below).





The following steps are recommended to 
properly clean your teeth each day. 

(Each procedure is described in more detail further down the page.

1) Brush at least twice each day with an Oral-B Professional Care Toothbrush (model 1000 or higher) with a Sensitive Head. One time brush with toothpaste, the other time brush with a mouthwash of your choice.  

2) Floss once per day.

3) Irrigate ("Waterpik") 1 time per day (optional).
            
                Note: Irrigations does not replace flossing.


(For the record, the following is my (Dr. Plascyk) daily home care routine:
    1) After breakfast I brush for 2 minutes with mouth wash.  
    2) After dinner I brush for 4 minutes with toothpaste (low abrasion). Then I floss with the Reach or Listerine Floss stick. Then I rinse with mouthwash. 

  *Note: The mouthwash I use is whatever my wife happened to buy. I am not picky. You use whatever you want, as long as it kills the bugs.)



 Detailed Home Care Instructions

Brushing:

Three important points:

1) Use a Oral-B powered toothbrush with a Sensitive head.

You can get your Oral-B toothbrush and replacement heads any where you want, but the link below will give details about the products before you buy. Also, Oral-B has tooth brushes with all kinds of bells and whistles. There is no need to spend the extra money for them. All you need is a "Pro 1000 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush". This will have all the features you need. Also, you should only be using the  "Sensitive Clean Replacement Brush Head"

                                                           oralb.com (click)

2) Use straight (unworn) tooth brush bristles.

 good                                   replace


The following video shows how to brush with a Braun Oral-B powered toothbrush:



Two harmful effects of incorrect tooth brushing:

1) Toothbrush recession

2) Toothpaste abrasion

1) Toothbrush recession:


Gum recession occurs when the gum tissue on the neck of the tooth "shrinks" away from the crown of the tooth and exposes the root.

gum recession 

Gum recession is caused by the type of toothbrush bristle used. A bristle that does not cause recession must: 

    1) be thin (commonly referred to as "soft") 

    2) have rounded and polished tips (most soft bristles do not have this)

Microscopic view of a rounded and polished bristle tip. 



Microscopic view of non-rounded unpolished bristle tip.


The Oral-B  "Sensitive Clean Replacement Brush Headhas rounded and polished bristle tips.  

2) Toothpaste abrasion:

Abrasion is caused by the overly abrasive particles in toothpaste.  

The next video (below) discusses tooth paste abrasion and the enamel pellicle (also known as the dental pellicle, the acquired pellicle or just pellicle). As the video explains, you do not want to remove the pellicle when you brush our teeth. Highly abrasive toothpaste remove the pellicle which makes the tooth prone to abrasion (wear) and sensitivity.

What is the Dental Pellicle?
The pellicle is a layer of adsorbed salivary proteins and other macromolecules on the dental enamel surface approximately 10 micrometers thick.  

When you brush (with low abrasive toothpaste) and floss, only the plaque (biofilm or bacteria) is removed. The pellicle remains on the tooth (this is what you want). 

The following video explains more about the enamel pellicle and toothpaste abrasion:



The following pictures show excessive wear (abrasion) of teeth caused by overly abrasive tooth paste.


Baking Soda:

Some of you want to use baking soda as an alternative to toothpaste. Baking soda is very abrasive if not used correctly. The proper is 1 part baking soda to 3 parts water. This will make a minimally abrasive paste. 


Flossing:
(Under the gums, against the teeth!)
(Under the gums against the teeth!)
(Under the gums, against the teeth!)
(Under the gums, against the teeth!)
 

 Proper flossing first requires consistency. It has to be done once/day. The second issue is incorrect technique. I routinely hear patients tell me how they floss the "way you showed me." Then I have them demonstrate it to me, and, sure enough, they are not doing it correctly.  

*Note: Popping floss between teeth is not flossing.
*Note: 
To properly floss, you need to go under the gums and against the                              teeth. I repeat, under the gums, against the teeth! 

The following video shoes proper flossing technique:

Flossing = Under the gums, against the teeth (every day)


I highly recommend the Reach or Listerine floss stick because it makes flossing so much easier!  The  video below shows how to use a bite technique for easily getting the floss between the teeth. However, he is flossing way too fast and not taking the time to adequately clean the surfaces of the teeth.
       


Flossing around a bridge:

The following videos show how to floss around a bridge:





One last point about flossing: Ignore anyone who claims that flossing does not decrease dental disease. This claim is completely ridiculous.

 

Irrigation:

First thing to understand is that Irrigation (using a "Waterpik") does not replace flossing. If you heard it can, that claim is incorrect. Irrigation cannot reach the deepest part of the gum pockets around your teeth. With that said, irrigation as an adjunct to brushing and flossing is beneficial and I encourage it.

You can use either a sink/shower irrigator or a counter top irrigator. Sink and shower irrigators are more convenient to use but you can only irrigate with water (cannot use an antimicrobial solution). The video below show how to use irrigators and although they promote a brand, you can use any brand you want.  

Sink/Shower irrigation:






Counter top irrigation:

Counter top irrigators allow you to use antimicrobial solutions instead of just water (always consult with the manufacturer before using any solution other than water).  This video also describes using a all natural antimicrobial solution called Perioscript (click). Unlike Perioscript, most natural products cannot be used in irrigators.