Even a whole year after the covid fluke, it has left us with many changes and lots of extra time on many hands due to unemployment or simply working from home. We now know the virus is basically a flu and pretty much completely survivable by the entire population.  Still, this has changed many schedules and given people more time to think about ways to stay healthy or ways to not leave home and risk getting the virus.  One simple area is in the surprising topic of dental hygiene.  I know it does sound a bit silly, but if you are able to keep your teeth safe from having to see the dentist for a checkup then that is simply one less thing you have to worry about.  Plus this time is great to work on habits and even get a brighter smile. 

I enjoy looking good and having a bright smile.  I believe that since I am actually spending more time at home that I am most likely eating drinking a little more unhealthy than normal.  This is sad because the fridge is right next to where I work now.  So because of this, I know that I must work harder to keep my smile brighter. 

I think it is wise to be above the curve on tooth brushing.  I started by making sure my morning and evening brush took place.  But then I realized that I could actually add in a lunch brush since my bathroom and toothbrush were simply right around the corner from my office.  This was a much more important move than I would have thought because it was an extra blocker of plaque and tartar buildup.  This is was actually an easy move and seemed to be a quick habit to acquire.  I worked very hard and had an alarm set for lunchtime brushing for 30 days.  This solidified it as a habit.  Now that I was brushing three times a day I decided to work on a whiter smile for the pandemic.  

Most people are either now wearing 2 face masks or none.   I know that people are wearing face masks but when I take mine off or smile from 6 feet away outside I want a nice white smile to show.  Also, I want really fresh breath and the extra brushing helps.  But to get a white smile I decided to add in some charcoal toothpaste at the end of my daily routine.  This was added to my nightly brush and then I believe that it will whiten overnight and not get anything else on our teeth to stain.  I know that if you brush and drink coffee in the morning then you can stain your teeth more than not brushing.  So the idea was to do the whitening paste at night. So far it has been two months and my teeth have gotten brighter and I have had no pain in my teeth. 

I have worked hard on my teeth and because of that, I have not had to go to the dentist and I feel safe on waiting it out until the covid-19 pandemic slows down.  So I plan on waiting on my 6-month checkup until the end of the lockdowns.  I am really tired of seeing failed rules ruin my life.

I know that much of my body is more important on the health range than others, but the older I get the more I understand it. There are some things that just matter more than finances and that is health.  If money is an issue I can find ways to earn more or spend less, but when I get injured or have to live with the pain I feel lost.  One of the areas that I have started to focus on this year has been my dental health.  This is because well the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown my dental health into the spotlight.  Now I am wearing a mask and noticing my mouth, and breath more than ever.  So even though I am wearing a mask, when it comes off people are noticing teeth even more.  It has become a focal point and has brought out my own need to have safe and white teeth. One of the biggest changes in my life has been my dental routine and I want to go over how I am using a new routine to help fight plaque and get whiter teeth because these are really important areas.  

So how do you do this and how did I do it? Well, I worked on what I did on a daily basis.  Normally, I am a brush once in the morning and hopefully at night kind of guy.  This has brought me a pretty healthy lifestyle so far. I have not had a cavity, and I have only had one major surgery and that was for my wisdom teeth.  But now that I feel my teeth are not on the best track of health and that maybe my age or it maybe I am simply noticing my mouth more.  So my goal has been to increase the amount of brushing to three times a day.  This has been possible because I am now working from home and brushing my teeth after my lunch is actually possible without it being a weird situation.  

I added in a nice brush to after my lunch.  It has been a little over thirty days of doing this.  I will soon turn off the alarm because the habit is now pretty well engrained into my schedule.  It takes about thirty days to get a habit and now that I have it I plan on keeping it. The best part is that now I have added an extra brushing to my routine I am now able to substitute one of my brushings with a whitening toothpaste. 

After diner and before bed  I have started to use charcoal toothpaste.  This allows me to keep my teeth protected during the morning and day when I am eating.  This keeps plaque away with my normal toothpaste and guards my mouth pretty much the entire time I am awake.  On my last brush of the day, I can use charcoal toothpaste which is a natural whitener. I love the idea of whitening my teeth at night while not causing any sensitivity that whitening strips cause.  I heard that the best way to whiten teeth is to do it at night.  This is because most whitening paste or strips actually cause staining to happen more easily if you eat or drink after.  Just be careful in how you drink and brush.

The goal of 2021 for my family is to get healthy and stay that way.  We are finding that having great habits is the best way to do this.   When it comes to teeth I am working on getting more healthy.  It is one area that I know I need to work harder at.  The general thought about going to the dentist scares most people and for me, I don’t relish spending money on cavities, fillings, and surgery.  Being better without teeth is a good thing and what we want to do. with all the covid talk and madness still going on, we want to be careful. , I knew this was the time to work on our dental health so let me go over what we have done to be more healthy. 

So we decided to step up our brushing routine itself.  With the pandemic in full swing it on the second year is hard to get a dentist appointment unless it is an emergency and with all the scare going on it is simply one thing I do not want to do.  So we thought that the best way to keep out of the dentist’s office was simply to brush our teeth more.  Normally our family brushes at a minimum of once a day.  That is honestly an average day. We try to get a morning and an evening brush in and three times during the week we succeed at this. I decided to add in a third brushing and that seemed to really help me.

Getting into the right routine was not easy.  This was a hard habit to start, but I feel it was a wise choice not only for me but my family.  It was a worthwhile choice in my mind because we have not had dental issues currently.  So this was probably part of the reason we have not had to go to the dentist. 

Adding in variety is a good thing too.  It is a great way to stay happy and on track.  The next thing we did was to change up one of our brushings.  On our nightly brushing, we changed out our toothpaste to charcoal toothpaste.  Not only did we want to be more healthy, but we wanted our teeth to look good.  This was a good alternative for us to using some kind of white strip.  We have used those in the past and they worked really well.  The issue with the non-natural whitener was that it caused lots of sensitivity and pain.  I do not like using those extra items that are not healthy.

Our habits seemed to pay off and with the new nightly toothbrush, we ended up with some crazy black teeth while brushing.  Charcoal certainly does have some wild looks while brushing.  It also leaves a bit of a mess so be ready to clean up black spots on the sink.  As long as you do it quickly they don’t stain though.  But do not throw any toilet paper with charcoal in the toilet and not flush it.  Yes, it does stain the toilet until you bleach it.  It looked scary and made us all a little wiery till we found out what it was. Less learned on our behalf.  Work on your habits and I hope it helps you out.