Keeping your mouth in pristine health

Keeping your mouth clean requires a rigorous at home care routine and professional hygiene appointments with the team at John Street Dental. This is your best defence against the development of decay, gum disease or gingivitis and periodontitis and other dental disorders.

Our friendly dentists can offer you some great advice about good oral hygiene and the techniques best for your mouth, demonstrating the most effective brushing, flossing or other techniques designed for your individual needs.

There’s more to brushing than scrubbing

• Use a soft bristled toothbrush positioned on the gum line where the teeth and gums meet.
• Angle the brush at 45 degrees to allow the bristles to gently clean under gums.
• Brush in small side to side motions on 1-2 teeth at a time.
• Brush the outside surfaces of the teeth, under the cheeks and lips and also the inside surfaces next to your tongue and on the roof of your mouth.
• Also brush the chewing surfaces of all upper and lower rear teeth, the premolars and molars. This is the only area in the mouth that can be scrubbed
• You can also brush the top of the tongue to remove bacteria.

Electric or manual tooth brushes are equally effective if used correctly. However we recommend the electrics as they tend to save time and a fair bit of effort.

Fantastic flossing Tips

• Break off a 50cm length of dental floss, ribbon or tape. Wind the ends around the longest, middle fingers. This leaves the index fingers and thumbs free to position the floss over the tips of these fingers and manipulate it.
• Try to keep about 1cm tight enough between your two hands to slide the floss between teeth.
• Position the floss at the junction between two teeth then slide the floss through the junction, use a side to side ‘sawing’ motion with slight upward pressure on the top teeth and downward pressure for the bottom teeth.
• The floss should gently slide between the teeth. Do not force it as it will hit the gums and hurt
• Slide it under the gum as far it will go and clean on the side of the tooth in an up and down action.
• Plaque is sticky so don’t be too gentle. You need to do this on the surface of the tooth in front of the floss and the surface of the tooth behind the floss.
• To reach your back teeth, it helps to close your mouth enough to soften cheek muscles.

While brushing is relatively straightforward, flossing can be a little tricky to master, so don’t hesitate to ask us for some help.

John Street Dental is located at 116 John St, Redcliffe QLD 4020. You can call us on (07) 3284 4281 of more information.