How to keep your teeth healthy
Protect your smile
Key points
- Brushing twice daily with fluoride toothpaste and reducing sugar intake are essential for healthy teeth and gums. Footnote [1]
- Our health insurance offers optional dental cover for routine treatment and accidents.
- Eating enamel-friendly foods and staying hydrated can help strengthen teeth and prevent decay.
Maintaining a sparkling smile is a good enough reason to look after your teeth and gums. Keeping your teeth healthy isn't difficult, but it takes some commitment.
How to take care of your teeth and gums
The golden rule is simple: brush your teeth twice a day. You should brush for at least 2 minutes each time and use fluoride toothpaste.
You should also have regular dental check-ups to spot problems early, when they're easiest to treat.
You should also try to cut down on sugar, to avoid cavities and help keeping your whole body healthy as well as your teeth, gums and mouth. Footnote [1]
Some adults in the UK delay dental treatment because of the cost, with our private health insurance, which covers routine dental treatment up to £250 (with a £50 excess).
How to make your teeth stronger
Strong teeth are essential for a healthy smile. So, whether you’re caring for your own teeth or your child’s, here are a few ways to help strengthen your enamel and improve dental health:
- Eat enamel-friendly foods.
Calcium and phosphorus from dairy, leafy greens, nuts and fish can help strengthen enamel. Footnote [2] - Practice good oral hygiene
Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, and floss. - Limit sugary and acidic foods.
- Stay hydrated.
What foods are bad for your teeth?
There are certain foods you should limit to look after your teeth. These include acidic foods like citrus fruits, carbonated drinks and foods that are high in sugar, particularly if they're sticky, as the longer they're in contact with your teeth, the more harm they can do. You should also be careful eating hard or crunchy foods, which can damage teeth.
What foods are good for your teeth?
Calcium is essential for healthy teeth and is found in milk and other dairy products, as well as in leafy green vegetables. Fibrous foods like apples, carrots and celery can help to keep gums healthy, as they create a scrubbing action as you chew. Plus, they increase saliva production, which helps to rinse away bacteria.
Drinking plenty of water also protects your teeth, by washing off sugar and acid.
How to take care of false teeth
Your dentist will explain how to look after your specific dentures, but here’s a few tips to get you started:
- brush your gums, tongue, and any remaining teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice a day.
- remove your dentures and brush them with a soft soap or washing up liquid twice a day.
- clean dentures over a sink filled with water or something soft as they can break if you drop them.
- rinse your dentures after meals to remove any bits of food.
- remove your dentures every night, put them in water, or an overnight denture cleaning solution or bath.
- don’t wear them overnight unless it’s recommended by your dentist. Trapped food could increase the risk of gum infections and tooth decay. You could also choke on them.
- don’t clean them with toothpaste as it could damage them. Footnote [3]
Does our health insurance provide dental cover?
If you have health insurance cover with us, you’re able to enhance it by adding dental and optical cover. This optional add-on includes:
- Routine dental treatment – up to £250 per policy year, with a £50 excess.
- Accidental dental injury – up to £600 of cover following an accident.
- Optical benefit - up to £150, with a £50 excess for a change of prescription.
It’s also worth noting that dental procedures performed in hospital are already included in our core health insurance.
Wellbeing services from Aviva
Where there's wellbeing there's a way
Related articles
