While it may seem there are millions and millions of dental care products on the market, the fact is, they all boil down to just two categories — the things that clean your teeth and gums, and the things that clean everything else.
The heroes of the oral health products market, of course, are the toothbrush and its loyal sidekick, dental floss. And while these can come in a massive variety of shapes, sizes, flavors, and even mechanisms, their general purpose is refreshingly simple: toothbrushes remove particles from your teeth, and dental floss removes particles from below your gum line. Period. They are mechanical tools, designed to use friction to keep all the available surfaces in your mouth smooth and clean.
But the rest of your mouth deserves care, too, which leads us to the second category. This is where we find things such as mouthwash — which uses a mild antibacterial chemical to keep your oral flora in check — and tongue scrapers — which are another mechanical tool, like brushes and floss, but designed to keep bacteria from gaining a serious foothold on the surface of your tongue.
Bear in mind, good oral and dental care is not about getting rid of the bacteria in your mouth. Much of that bacteria is actually beneficial to you, and even the plaque it creates is useful, in the right balance. The point at which bacteria and plaque become problems is when there is too much of one or both. This can happen when the pH balance of the oral cavity shifts out of the normal range (a narrow window between 6.75 and 7.25). This shift can cause bacteria to multiply outside their normal numbers, and that’s when bacteria and their byproducts can start to damage your enamel.
So in reality, all dental care activities, from brushing to flossing to tongue cleaning to rinsing, have the exact same goal — maintaining a healthy pH in your mouth. Healthy pH keeps a healthy balance of bacteria, a healthy balance of bacteria helps digestion, improves immunological response, and of course, keeps enamel strong. And that can help you maintain overall health for years and years to come. Check out this website for more.
