What are some things you can do to maintain your teeth when you don't have health insurance and can't afford dental care?
What are some things you can do to maintain your teeth when you don't have health insurance and can't afford dental care?
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A toothpaste that restores your enamel. It’s prescription in the US but you can get Apagard Premio off Amazon.
It’s probably a good idea to get some extra fluoride since the Apagard doesn’t have any. I use purple Listerine, but I kinda hate it, so find something you like.
You should floss, which I’m shitty at, so I use a water pick a few times a week. All kinds of nasty crap comes out, even after brushing, so it’s gotta be better than nothing.
I use a Philips Sonicare toothbrush, no need to get the fancy ones, it’s mostly extra accessories. There are probably less expensive ultrasonic toothbrushes out there that work well… doing it twice a day manually is probably better for you than once a day with a fancy toothbrush.
Hang in there, clinical trials of a drug that regrows teeth are underway and the results are promising.
Floss picks, with a little piece of floss held in a plastic "harp" are so much easier than a spool of loose floss.
I am also told that flossing, while it does remove gunk and food bits, introduces oxygen, which serves to fight off anaerobic bacteria.
I’m going to give those another try. My mouth is tiny and my fingers are stubby (thanks dad! ;-) But you get way more crap out with floss.
Most of the ones you find will have the "handle" parallel to the floss. There are some out there where the handle is perpendicular to the floss, but they're a bit harder to find on store shelves. I found that the latter make it much easier to get to the back teeth, but I do just fine with the former, too.
Disclaimer: This is not personal medical/dental advice, just my own understanding that I'm sharing.
Floss (or water pick) first, then mouthwash, then brush, then don't rinse.
Floss to open up the gums and knock loose anything stuck in between teeth. Mouthwash to get rid of the solids and get a bit of fluoride in between teeth. Brushing after mouthwash, because toothpaste typically has a much higher concentration of fluroide than mouthwash does. And avoid rinsing after brushing so you don't wash away the residual fluoride from the toothpaste.
Sounds logical.
Unless your toothpaste has no fluoride ;-)
That sounds like a really bad idea to me, but you do you I guess.