The Best Products to Prevent Plaque and Tartar Buildup
By Rex Hoang | Published on June 16, 2010 | 0 Comments
Despite the thousands of plaque-fighting products on the market, Dr. Rex Hoang says the best thing that people can use to prevent plaque and tartar buildup is just a good toothbrush. Hoang is the owner of DC Dental Spa, a thriving dentist office in Washington DC. He says that he encourages patients to forego many of the expensive tools and rinses, and focus instead on brushing correctly each day and night.
Toothbrushes
“We recommend electric toothbrushes to people,” he says. “But we also want to make sure they go slowly, even with the electric versions.” Hoang says that the biggest problems people have with electric toothbrushes are that they brush too fast and they leave out flossing under the false assumption that the electric toothbrush is handling the flossing for them. “People think these electric toothbrushes floss and that they go in between the teeth, but they don’t,” he says.
Among the most recommended toothbrushes in Hoang’s Washington, DC dentist office is the Braun Oral-B electric toothbrush, which he says is a very good toothbrush for a very reasonable price. “When it comes to toothbrushes, you don’t always get what you pay for,” he says. “I have tried most of them on the market, and the Braun Oral-B is a great brush that doesn’t cost nearly as much as some other ones I have tried.”
To prevent plaque and tartar buildup, Hoang says that patients need to follow the same guidelines when using an electric brush as they would with any other toothbrush. “If you brush slowly for two minutes straight, then you are on the right track,” he says. Electric toothbrushes clean much better than manual toothbrushes, which is why people can actually use these devices without any kind of toothpaste. “As long as you go slowly and make sure that you are thorough, you don’t necessarily need to use a toothpaste every time.”
Toothpastes
Forget the tartar control toothpastes that are currently on the market, says Hoang, and stick to the basics. Dentists don’t usually recommend tartar control toothpastes because they do not work any better than regular toothpastes. In fact, any toothpaste that contains fluoride is good enough for most people to use regularly. “The cheapest toothpaste would work just as well as the most expensive toothpaste, just as long as it has fluoride in it,” he says.
Additionally, Hoang recommends staying away from any whitening toothpastes. “The whitening toothpastes have never been shown to work,” he says. Because whitening toothpastes have more abrasive materials, they can wear away the tooth’s enamel much more quickly than a regular toothpaste. Unfortunately, the enamel is exactly what gives the tooth its white color. Once the enamel starts wearing down, the tooth’s dentin will start to show through. And because dentin is yellow, this can actually cause the teeth to look more yellow than before. So interestingly enough, whitening toothpastes can sometimes produce an effect that is clearly the opposite of “whitening.”
In the long run, Hoang says that people who use whitening toothpastes every day will actually get teeth that are more yellow than when they started. And once you lose your teeth’s natural enamel, you cannot bleach them anymore or get that enamel back.
Rinses
As far as rinses go, Hoang recommends that people rinse with salt water instead of the expensive anti-plaque rinses currently sold in stores. “Salt water is simple, and it kills bacteria on contact,” he says. “And on top of that, it doesn’t have a lot of the chemicals that these store-bought rinses have in them.”
For patients who feel like they must use a mouthwash, he recommends using a non-alcoholic mouthwash like the ones made by Crest Pro Health. When a patient uses an alcohol-based mouthwash, the alcohol can dry out the inside of the mouth. So a person who uses a mouthwash with a high alcohol content can actually end up having worse smelling breath 10 to 15 minutes after he rinsed than if he hadn’t used mouthwash at all.
On the other hand, salt water can kill all the same bacteria in the mouth without drying anything out. Just using a salt-water rinse once or twice a day can have a great impact on a patient’s oral health and help cut down on plaque and tartar buildup. “Just make sure you rinse your mouth out really well afterward, and you should be fine,” Hoang says.
Anyone who has high blood pressure should check with his dentist before using a salt water rinse each day, although generally speaking, people with this condition should be fine as long as they make sure to spit out all of the salt after the rinse is over. For more information on the best way to prevent plaque and tartar buildup, Hoang recommends that patients contact their dental offices for additional help in finding the best treatment options.
*Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.