Do you know what the American Dental Association does? Do you know what the American Dental Association suggests as the best way to brush teeth? How concerned are you with your own dental hygiene? If any or all of these questions made you shrug, you had better read on. Dental hygiene is nothing to take lightly, and as such, you should follow the recommended procedures that the American Dental Association has set forth in order to make sure that you are treating your mouth the best that you can.

• The Importance of Brushing Teeth

Brushing your teeth regularly and properly is not just to make sure that they stay shiny white or that you have good breath. The state of your dental hygiene can actually affect the overall health of your entire body. Studies have found that gum disease can make you more likely to develop heart disease, and have difficulty controlling your blood sugar. Women with gum disease are more likely to deliver pre-term, low birth weight babies.

Not only that, but your teeth are one of the few things in your body that do not grow back or repair themselves. If you get a cavity, it will not fill itself back in, you will need a filling from a dentist. If you abuse your mouth, there is nothing you can do to reverse the damages, you can only put forth the effort to stop the damages and maintain your mouth at its current state.

• The Wrong Way To Brush Teeth

There is such a thing as brushing too hard or too soft. If your gums bleed when brushing teeth, it could very well mean that you are brushing teeth too hard. You can also brush too much. Brushing too much, too often, can also lead to bleeding gums.

Every time you brush, if you begin in the same spot and end in the same spot, those teeth are not getting the same treatment. We have a tendency to start out really strong when we brush, but get weaker and less precise as we move through the process. As such, you should be varying where you start and finish brushing every time.

• The Best Way To Brush Teeth

The best way to look at tooth brushing is to view the mouth as a collection of four quadrants: top and bottom right, top and bottom left. Now take a two minute period and break it into four quadrants as well: four chunks of 30 seconds. Now spend 30 seconds on each one of your mouth quadrants (starting and ending in different spots each time, remember?), and you will be practicing best brushing techniques.

Be sure to brush first thing in the morning, last thing at night. If you can brush after lunch too, that would be ideal. But any more can be too much. And be sure to floss after lunch and before bed. That is all! The ADA does not ask for much, but you need to put forth just a little effort if you want to make sure your teeth are perfect.