Taking care of your teeth is important, no doubt about it. Once you get your permanent teeth, that’s all the teeth you will get for the rest of your entire life. After that, it’s up to you to keep them in good shape.

Fortunately, there are way ways that you can take care of your teeth, keep them healthy, and avoid tooth pain. For one, a simple oral hygiene routine is critical. It’s currently recommended that you brush your teeth twice a day, but it’s important to note that brushing too vigorously can be just as damaging (or nearly as damaging) to your teeth as simply not brushing at all. Flossing and rinsing with mouthwash are also ideal for your overall oral health – and some people even invest in tongue scrubbers as the health of your tongue too plays a role in your overall oral health.

If you have children, it’s important to get them started on the right track towards having healthy teeth for the rest of their lives. Once their teeth first pop through, you should be brushing them on a daily basis, something that becomes more and more important as they get more and more teeth. However, children who are under the age of two should not have toothpaste that has fluoride in it and instead should have their teeth brushed with fluoride free toothpaste or water alone. Before they reach the age of two, it is important to take your child to see a pediatric dentist.

As your child reaches the end of their teenage years, they might begin to experience some tooth pain in relation to their wisdom teeth. Tooth pain is common when the wisdom teeth begin the process of emerging and said tooth pain is caused by the wisdom teeth not having enough space to grow in properly. This tooth pain is typically treated by wisdom tooth removal, which will not only eliminate the tooth pain caused by wisdom teeth but will also actually help to prevent the other teeth from being pushed out of alignment.

Tooth extractions are common – particularly that of the wisdom tooth extraction. In fact, ten million wisdom teeth are removed from millions of people every year here in the United States, and are primarily removed from teenagers. The recovery process can be painful after such a wisdom tooth extraction, but the tooth pain that the typical patient feels is, on a whole, much reduced once the healing process has been completed.

But tooth pain can originate from other causes as well. TMJ disorder is one of them, and comes from the clenching and grinding of teeth, often in one’s sleep. TMJ disorder can cause not only a great deal of tooth pain, but can lead to hugely detrimental jaw pain as well as headaches and neck pain and neck stiffness. Those who suffer from TMJ often report a considerable lowering in the quality of their lives when they are experiencing a flare up of TMJ symptoms.

And if you suspect that you have TMJ disorder, speaking to your dentist immediately is recommended. TMJ treatments will be important, as they can reduce tooth pain but can also protect your teeth. After all, grinding them constantly as many TMJ sufferers do wears them down and can even result in chipped or cracked teeth. And without the use of an effective TMJ treatment, it is even possible that jaw surgery will become necessary somewhere down the line, something that should be avoided if at all possible.

It is important for any tooth extraction, be it a wisdom tooth or other such tooth, that a qualified oral surgeon performs the procedure. Because wisdom teeth often grow in in ways that they are not supposed to, wisdom teeth removal can be a tricky thing, and a process that often requires general anesthesia. In order to make sure that this process is conducted safely, a full medical staff is necessary.

Taking care of your teeth is key to your overall oral health – and helps to keep you looking your best and most professional and confident as well.