What leads to good dental health? It might surprise you, but maintaining proper oral hygiene isn’t always as simple as brushing your teeth every day.

Here are a few expert tips about how to maintain proper oral health no matter your age or dental health history:

1. Children should be taken to the dentist for their visit checkup about six months after their first tooth comes in or by their first birthday. This is to ensure that the teeth have formed correctly and are ready to grow in without any problems.
   

2. Oral care products, including orthodontics, are still sometimes necessary to correct dental problems while kids are young. It’s recommended that children should be evaluated for orthodontics around age seven; it’s pointless to straighten out baby teeth (since they fall out naturally anyway), but adult teeth will start to grow in around this time.
   

3. Brushing twice and day and flossing once a day is generally a good cleaning regimen to have. Make sure you aren’t over-brushing your teeth by using a hard-bristled toothbrush or by brushing your teeth too often; this can cause tooth enamel to wear away and can actually be harmful to your dental health.
   

4. It’s absolutely imperative to see a dentist at the first signs of tooth decay or gum disease. If these problems go untreated, they can spread and become very painful; your overall health can even suffer because your body has to put extra energy into keeping your teeth somewhat healthy.
   

5. There can be other reasons why your dental health is suffering — reasons that are unrelated to your regular tooth cleaning regimen. Pregnant women often develop severe gum disease, and people with diabetes or heart disease tend to have poor tooth and gum health as well. Talking with a dentist, and using the right oral care products to clean your teeth, is very important.