While everyone knows that it’s important to brush and floss your teeth daily—not that everyone does so perfectly—there are so many other parts of proper dental care that most people either don’t know about or have forgotten completely. But if you want to have good oral hygiene, which is important for the youngest babies in their cribs and the oldest grandparents in their assisted living communities, then you have to implement more than just the basics.

To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for caring for your teeth other than brushing and flossing. 

Start Consistently Using Mouthwash

Another great product you can use in your mouth in addition to toothpaste and dental floss is mouthwash. 

While you might think that mouthwash is only something that you use when you want to freshen your breath without brushing your teeth, mouthwash can actually have a lot of great benefits to your oral health. For example, mouthwash can reduce the amount of acid you have in your mouth, remineralize your teeth, and get into some of the places that a toothbrush and floss has a hard time reaching. So for people who might not have the dexterity to get their toothbrush and their floss into every nook and cranny in their mouth, using mouthwash should be a part of their normal dental hygiene. 

Visit Your Dentist Those Two Times A Year

We all know that life gets busy. So when you forget to schedule your dental visits, it’s easy to justify just pushing it off until the next six months rolls along. But the longer you do this, the worse off your dental health is likely to become. 

When you visit the dentist, he or she is able to notice issues in your mouth that you may not have noticed yourself. They can recommend changes to your oral hygiene practices and make sure your teeth, gums, and mouth are ready to take on whatever you’ll throw at them in the next six months. 

Consume Healthy Foods And Avoid The Wrong Things

It’s not just what you’re doing to your teeth specifically that can have an impact on your dental health. The foods, drinks, and other things that you consume can also either help or hurt your oral health. So if you’re doing things like constantly drinking sugary drinks, smoking or using other forms of tobacco, or allowing acidic foods and drinks to just sit on your teeth for extended periods of time, it’s time to start making some changes. 

If you want to take the best possible care of your teeth but are currently only doing the basics of brushing and flossing daily, consider how you can implement the tips mentioned above to help you go above and beyond here.