How To Relieve Jaw Pain

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Jaw pain is a common problem. Many people can experience it, and it has a range of different causes. You might find that your jaw hurts at certain times of the day, such as when you first wake up in the morning. You could also have jaw pain that starts suddenly and then won't go away. It can range in severity, from mildly annoying to being so painful that you can't eat or talk. If you're experiencing jaw pain, you need to know how to treat it and how to find the cause. Here are some things you should do if your jaw hurts.

Relieve the Pain

The first thing that you may want to do is address the pain you're experiencing in the short term. While this might not get to the bottom of the problem, it will help you to feel better until you're able to get the treatment you need. Over-the-counter painkillers can be a good option to help you if you're in pain. Ibuprofen and other medications are easily available and effective for mild to moderate pain. You can also consider hot and cold therapy, using things like ice packs and warm compresses to help relieve your pain.

See A Dentist

When you're considering treatment for your jaw pain, it can be hard to know whether to see a doctor or dentist. A dentist is often the right choice, and they can refer you to a doctor if it's necessary. Dentists don't just know about teeth; they're also familiar with how the jaw works. Some jaw pain is caused by dental problems and can be addressed by your dentist. They can do everything from remove wisdom teeth to provide you with a mouth guard to help you stop grinding your teeth at night. They can also treat infections, perform root canal treatments, and carry out various other dental treatments.

See a Doctor

A doctor could also be the right person to see if you have jaw pain. Again, they could refer you to a dentist if they're the better option. If home remedies don't improve your pain and it's interfering with your daily routine, your doctor may be able to help. They can provide treatments such as muscle relaxants or steroid injections to help with some causes of jaw pain. A doctor can also help if you have injured your jaw in an accident.

Learn to Relax

Some jaw pain comes from clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth. If you're someone who does this, some help with relaxation can relieve your jaw pain. There are many ways to relax more and deal with stress in a healthy way so that you're not so tense. You could be surprised by how much it might help to relieve the pain in your jaw. People relax in a lot of different ways, from exercising to meditating, so find what works for you.


You don't have to suffer with jaw pain. If your jaw is aching, do something about it and get help.

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Beautiful Smile, Beautiful You!

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When it comes to beauty, confidence and even well-being, a smile can make a drastic positive difference if used in the right way. Randomly smiling and hoping things will get better doesn’t work, but the power of a smile cannot be ignored. It’s linked to many positive benefits and there’s even research to suggest that people are treated differently if they show a smile.

A smile can even help with your self-esteem, boost your confidence and even help you improve interactions with customers, colleagues and virtually everyone in your life. However, getting that perfect smile can be tricky and you might feel like it's a pointless endeavor. It does take a lot of time to build your ideal smile, but it can be achieved as long as you take the right steps.


Dental Hygiene and Smiling Go Together

One of the nice things about trying to perfect your smile is that it goes together with your dental hygiene practices. A lot of people lack the self-esteem to smile because they believe that their teeth aren’t shaped well, not white enough or embarrassing due to a lack of dental care. A trip to the dentist can help in more ways than you think, and you can easily search online for practices like www.claritydentistry.com. There’s no excuse not to visit your dentist at least twice a year for a regular checkup that will give you the confidence to smile in public and reap the benefits.

Smiling Induces Pleasure–Even If It’s Forced

Research has shown that smiling actually induces pleasure in the brain. In fact, that level of pleasure is greater than indulging on a sweet snack like chocolate. There’s a lot of science behind this, but it boils down to the facial muscles we use to smile and how they stimulate our reward system, improving our happiness levels and giving us a more positive outlook on the day. This is entirely based on the body and the muscles you use, meaning that even a forced smile can brighten up your day.

You Smile, They Smile

Smiling is contagious. Much like laughing, once you see someone do it, you’re probably going to follow their example and smile as well–especially if they’re looking directly at you! Smiling comes with many benefits and you can spread that joy by simply smiling at others. If someone smiles at you, shoot a smile back and watch that mood of yours improve almost instantly. Even if it’s a fake or forced smile, it’s better than nothing and can help you spread the joy a little. Smile in the workplace, at your barista or even your customers at work–you’ll be surprised what it can do for you.


I hope that this article has given you some inspiration and advice on how you can take your smile to the next level. Whether it’s improving your dental hygiene or making you more approachable, focusing on your smile can make a huge difference in the way that you live your life–so why not take advantage of those benefits?

Teeth & Ear Care

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When we talk about health there is a tendency to think of physical illness and heading to the local doctor. But health encompasses much more than just what a doctor can do to serve your ailments. With that in mind, we are going to give a rundown here of some of the other health issues that you should make sure you are getting checked out for the greater benefit of your overall health.

Teeth

First of all, let’s discuss your teeth. You spend parts of your day brushing them, flossing them and all the other daily rituals surrounding teeth. However, how often do you ask yourself about how your teeth are? While the routine of cleaning your teeth is vital to their health, there are also other parts of dental hygiene that we should all be doing. For starters, it is important to make sure you are keeping up appearances with your dentist with a regular six-month appointment.

Outside of the dental surgery, there are other things that you should be doing, especially if you have concerns about the health of your teeth. Limiting acidic drinks and sugary snacks will benefit your teeth greatly and work in a complementary way with the previously daily routine. Your dental regime should consist of at least two thorough brushes and a floss.

Finally, when it comes to teeth, you should make sure you do everything you can to protect them. People who take part in competitive sports might want to consider wearing a mouth guard and everyone should avoid using your teeth for anything other than chewing food. That means loosening bottle caps, etc.

Hearing

Another part of our general health that we don’t always pay full attention to is the delicacy of our hearing. It might have been a while since your last hearing test and so that should be top of your agenda if that is the case. As we get older our hearing naturally deteriorates and we need to make sure we are taking full advantage of the medical professionals who specialize in this field of expertise. You can learn more about hearing tests before getting one so that you are confident of what to expect.

There are some methods that you can employ to look after your hearing such as wearing ear protection in noisy environments like when using a lawnmower or in a workplace where heavy machinery is being operated. Avoid listening to loud music through headphones for extended periods of time. Also, maintain good ear hygiene using some of the many products on the market designed for this purpose.

These are just two parts of your body that need your attention and there are many more that could be discussed. From your eyes to your joints and beyond there are medical professionals to seek advice from and maintenance that you need to ensure you are doing. Your health is the most important part of your life, so keep it in check for a good time.


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Getting Into Good Teeth Care Habits

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For many of us, taking care of our teeth involves just one thing, brushing them. But, as we get older, it's important that we look after our teeth as much as we do our health, our body, and our mind. This means getting into the habit of looking after your teeth better. What are the best things for you to do, not just to ensure that you have a gleaming smile, but your teeth don't provide you with problems in the future?

It’s Not Just About Brushing

Yes, everybody knows the importance of flossing. But it's not just about getting those little bits of food out of your teeth that your toothbrush cannot reach, you have to keep on top of flossing because if you don't, these little bits of food could find their way into your bloodstream. Amazingly, dormant bits of plaque can infiltrate your bloodstream through the gums and can build up which could contribute to heart disease!

What Is Your Brushing Habit?

Some people brush soft and some people hack at their teeth like it's a tree ready to be chopped down! The sweet spot to ensure that you are giving your teeth thorough clean is somewhere in between. Here is the real test, if you have wisdom teeth, do they hurt? Believe it or not, if you have wisdom teeth and they don't cause you problems, this is a sign that your brushing habit is excellent. So, make sure that you give your teeth a thorough brush, so much so that the bristles look like they've been battered. And while it's expensive to keep buying new toothbrushes all the time, this is where a monthly toothbrush subscription will come in handy. As we get older, we can neglect our teeth and think that the habits we learned when we were children will suffice, this is far from the case.

It's Time To Kick Those Bad Habits!

The fact is, we all know the habits that give us yellow teeth, plaque, and bad breath but we aren't prepared to give them up. If this is you, and you like a drink, maybe smoke, as well as having an incredibly sugary diet, it's about limiting your vices. But getting into the habit of looking after your teeth stems from a healthy lifestyle. Cutting down on sugary foods will reduce your cavities, and if you get into the habit of drinking more water, especially after consuming acidic and sugary foods, you are saving your teeth. While we can all be a bit stubborn when it comes to those vices, if we can actively look to cut down, especially as we get older, we won't need to go to the dentist as much.

As far as our health priorities are concerned, our teeth tend to be way down the list. It's not too difficult to look after our teeth; it's just about having the right habits. And the habits are surprisingly simple. If you are making changes to your lifestyle to better your body and brain, give some consideration to your teeth as well.

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How To Brighten Your Smile

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Want to save your smile? Here are several ways to combat discolouration and decay and keep your teeth looking white and shiny.  

Brush more regularly

Brushing your teeth more regularly can also help to make them whiter. We should all be brushing our teeth morning and night for two minutes at a time. If you don’t already do this, adopting this routine could be an important first step to keeping those teeth bright.

Break the bad habits

There are a number of habits that are bad for our teeth. Smoking is the biggest culprit – not only does it discolor teeth and cause bad breath, but it can lead to oral infections and diseases. Quitting smoking is certain improve your oral health and help your teeth to get whiter. Your sugar intake is also important – cutting down on your soft drink consumption can make a significant impact to your teeth. Other bad habits that stain teeth include drinking lots of coffee and drinking red wine regularly.

Upgrade your toothpaste

You can also try using different toothpastes to help whiten your teeth. There are a number of special whitening toothpastes that contain ingredients such as hydrogen peroxide and activated charcoal – these pastes can help to remove plaque and stains from deep within the enamel. You can also try DIY toothpastes such as baking soda and water.

Try whitening strips

Whitening strips are small plastic strips that mold to the teeth using a special whitening adhesive. The best whitening strips can help to remove plaque and stains that are deep within the crevices of our enamel. There are lots of different strips on the market to try using all kinds of ingredients such as activated charcoal and hydrogen peroxide.

Chew gum

Chewing gum can also help to clean your teeth and remove stains. There are special whitening gums on the market than contain xylitol and other ingredients to help make your teeth whiter. Try chewing these gums throughout the day and see the difference.

Invest in professional whitening

A more rapid and effective way of whitening teeth could be to invest professional whitening. Veneers are a popular form of cosmetic procedure that involves capping each teeth with a white porcelain layer. This can help to make your teeth appear white, although there are conditions such as not being able to eat certain foods after like fudge and toffee. Another procedure to consider could be laser whitening. This involves adding a bleaching agent to the teeth and then activating using a laser. This is a much more expensive form of treatment and it can leave your teeth slightly sensitive, however it is guaranteed to make your teeth whiter more instantly than any other form of whitening.

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Oral Hygiene: Four Ways To Take Better Care Of Your Mouth

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Hands up if you've ever been on a diet, or been worried about your weight? That will be most of us, then. Body image is such a contentious issue in the modern day, and women, in particular, can often be on the receiving end of any societal pressures. Of course, being concerned about your weight doesn't just mean that you are hung up on the way you LOOK. Plenty of people change their diet and lifestyle to simply be healthier - any aesthetic changes merely come as a plus. However, with so much focus being on our weight and our bodies, other aspects of our health and beauty can often get pushed out. Take our faces, for example. The face is the first thing you see when you meet a new person and is integral to forming new relationships. Expressions are so delicate that many of us are not even aware we are making them, but we can give away a lot of how we are feeling just from our faces!

The mouth, in particular, is a critical aspect. It is our primary communication tool and also goes through plenty of other things on an average day - whether that is eating, drinking, or kissing! Therefore, it's often crazy to think how much many of us overlook both our oral and our dental health. If you start to ignore this area, you could be opening yourself up to some pretty nasty future health issues. No one wants to be the person who looks back and thinks 'I could have done more to look after myself back then.' So, with that in mind, here are some top tips for keeping your lips, gums, teeth, and tongue in tip top condition.

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Dental hygiene

We all know we should brush our teeth twice a day - but are you doing it right? There is quite a lot of contention about how you should brush; whether you should dampen your toothbrush prior or not, how much toothpaste you should use, and whether you should use a manual brush or an electric one. With all this conflicting information, it can get a bit confusing knowing what or what not to do. However, the best course of action is to speak to your dentist personally and ask for their advice. Only they know your teeth better than you will, so they will be able to point you in the right direction. Typically, though, try and get into the habit of using a fluoride toothpaste, along with a non-alcoholic mouthwash and floss a couple of times a week, if you can.


Your tongue

Our tongue is a muscle - although you'd have to try something pretty out there to pull it like you would your bicep or your quads! However, that doesn't mean to say that it still isn't safe from damage, sitting safely inside your mouth. Certain lifestyle habits can have a derogatory effect on the health of your tongue, leading to some pretty nasty symptoms. Take, for example, 'black hairy tongue.' This gross-sounding condition is what can sometimes occur when a person has been smoking tobacco for many years. The gradual build-up of smoke in the mouth causes discoloration to appear on the surface of the tongue, which in turn, gives the appearance of the tongue being hairy. Attractive, no? If you are addicted to smoking and quitting cold turkey to avoid this issue is not an option, you could always try switching to e-cigarettes instead. Electronic cigarettes use 120 ml e juice rather than tobacco, as well as containing far fewer chemicals. Therefore, you still get your nicotine rush, but without all the added nasties (and no black tongue!).


Your gums

Gum disease is one of the most common oral disorders people are treated for all over the world. Ironically, it is also one of the easiest conditions to protect yourself against. So many people forget about their gums when brushing their teeth, but remember, that part of your mouth needs attention too! If you find that your regular toothbrush is too rough or harsh on your sensitive gums (remember, you never want to draw blood), find a softer one to use. Flossing or using a plaque pick is again, integral to dental hygiene overall, but particularly for your gums. A plaque build-up is one of the leading causes of gum disease, so if you notice that the gaps between your teeth are yellowing, take action right away. If you notice that when you spit your toothpaste back into the sink, there is blood there, this could be an early sign of gum disease (even if other symptoms haven't arisen yet). Make an appointment with your dentist straight away, and he or she will be able to diagnose you and put a treatment plan in place.

 

Lips

Our lips are one of our most aesthetic features - and keeping them healthy is what help to keep them beautiful, too! Try and think of your pout a bit like a sponge (not the nicest metaphor, we know). When they are hydrated, they are soft and supple. When they are starved of moisture, they are dry and rough. Lots of people struggle with chapped lips during the winter and burnt lips during the summer. To avoid both of these scenarios, make sure you are taking the necessary protective precautions. During hot weather, always use a lip balm with an SPF in it - if you're a lipstick lover, just apply a small layer of balm over your color of choice. Similarly, in winter, make sure your lips are hydrated with a moisturizing balm that will prevent them from the icy temperatures. You can also take another measure towards getting your lips pucker-perfect, such as using an exfoliating lip scrub to soften them - just don't rub them too hard! Finish with a slick of lipstick or gloss, and you're ready to go, knowing that your lips are both beautiful AND healthy.

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