When you look at youthful smiles, you can immediately tell the difference. The natural glossiness, the bright coloration, and the healthy teeth and gums all show that theirs is a smile which is as yet untouched by the ravages of time.
Wouldn’t it be nice to maintain the youthful beauty of your smile? Although you may not be able to keep your teeth completely untouched, there are many things that you can do to preserve their youthful appearance even as you get older.
Brush and Floss Daily
This may seem obvious, but it definitely bears repeating: keeping your teeth clean is one of the most important things you can do to help keep your teeth looking youthful for life. Dental plaque can stain and damage your teeth, and become a telltale sign of age.
If you are not getting plaque from between teeth and at the gum line, you may be setting yourself up for gum disease, which is another giveaway for your age. Gum disease risk increases as we get older, so red inflamed gums are associated with age, and if you develop receding gums, it will definitely make your smile look older.
However, it is also important not to brush too much. Brushing too often can also damage your tooth enamel. If you want to brush during the middle of the day to keep your teeth feeling fresh, brush without toothpaste.
Avoid Staining & Acidic Foods and Drinks
One of the keys to maintaining a youthful smile is avoiding stains and damage to your teeth. The most important source of staining is actually your food and drink. So if you want your smile to stay youthful, try to steer clear of foods that are going to stain your teeth.
Obvious ones to avoid are dark-colored foods like chocolate, coffee, tea, and red wine. But do not forget that acidic foods can also damage your tooth enamel and stain your teeth, causing your smile to look older. This includes soda (even if it is clear), white wine, vinegars, and fruit juices.
We understand that you cannot always avoid all these foods. If you do consume these foods, rinse your mouth with water to neutralize acid and remove stains.
Do Not Smoke
Smoking is bad for your overall health, and it is just as disastrous for your oral health. It is not just the dark stains that you can get on your teeth–the harsh, toxic chemicals in cigarettes can harm your gums and increase your risk for gum disease, leading to receding gums.
Smoking also increases your risk of tooth loss–and missing teeth can age your smile dramatically. And smoking makes it harder to get dental implants to replace lost teeth.
Make Regular Dental Checkups
There are obviously a lot of great things you can do at home to make sure your teeth stay healthy and youthful, but it is also important to let us do our part by scheduling regular dental checkups. We will help your smile stay youthful by removing unsightly tartar (dental calculus) that builds up on your teeth.
We will also gently polish your teeth to help them stay youthfully bright. And we’ll check up on your oral health so you can avoid problems like decay and infection that age your smile.
Avoid Aging Restorations
If you develop cavities, including those that penetrate into the interior of the tooth, you will need to repair that damage. But be aware of what type of restoration you are getting. Metal amalgam fillings are being phased out, and they will make your smile look older. The same goes for metal crowns and traditional dentures.
Tooth-colored fillings and ceramic dental crowns are great for maintaining the youthfulness of your smile. They treat the decay without revealing that you’ve experienced cavities. If you are in need of dentures, high quality, well fitting FOY® Dentures will give you a younger appearance.
Maintain a Healthy Bite
One of the biggest impacts that time will have on your teeth is wear. Some amount of wear is inevitable, but you want to make sure it is not happening faster than it should. If you have an unhealthy bite, it will put excess force on your teeth, causing them to wear down faster.
We can help make sure your bite is balanced, which will protect your teeth so they can stay long and maintain their youthful proportions, not get worn down to a uniform height.
Do Not Try Whitening Home Remedies
If your teeth are starting to show their age with slight discoloration, you might decide to try to whiten them. Just do not try DIY teeth whitening recipes that you make at home. These are rarely effective, and they usually damage teeth. This might make your teeth look whiter at first, but enamel loss leads to permanent discoloration and makes your teeth vulnerable to wear, chipping, and cracking, which can accelerate the aging of your smile.
Let Us Help Preserve Your Teeth
If you are looking for a dentist in St. Louis that can help you maintain your youthful smile, then look no further than Dr. Chris Hill at City Smiles. We can preserve the naturally youthful appearance of your teeth, and even turn back some of the signs of aging that show up in your teeth, such as unsightly restorations or tooth stains.
To learn more about preserving your youthful smile for life, please call (314) 678-7876 (Downtown St. Louis) or (314) 678-7876 (Clayton) today for an appointment at City Smiles.
