You’ve heard this phrase over and over before: you only get one set of teeth. While dental improvements have made it a lot easier and more affordable to get quality crowns and implants, you don’t want to have to go that route if you can preserve your natural teeth.

However, for many people, going to the dentist is a scary experience. That doesn’t mean that you don’t need to go, but it does mean that you can minimize pain and dental procedures by taking extra good care of your teeth at home.

Floss Often, Brush Too

You know you’re supposed to floss, but do you do it enough? According to many dentists you really should be flossing after every meal. If you can, try taking floss with you to work. Leave it in your desk and grab a string when you need it.

You also know that you’re supposed to be brushing your teeth regularly, but how regularly? Ideally, you want to brush after every meal, but only after about 30 minutes have passed after meal times.

Brushing too early can cause the acid in the foods you ate to work against your enamel. If you can’t brush, rinse with water and chew gum with xylitol.

Eat the Right Foods

Not all foods are bad for your teeth. Some are actually quite good for your dental health and work to actually clean your teeth.

Common cleaning foods include chicken, apples, eggs, cilantro, brown rice, bran and more work to keep teeth healthy.

Visit Your Dentist

Nobody loves going to the dentist, but that doesn’t mean that you can skip visits if you take good care of your teeth at home. What you can do is visit your dentist more often – once every six months, to be exact – so that you don’t need painful root canals and expensive restorative procedures like crowns and implants.

Find a Brooklyn dentist you love and make regular appointments! They’ll even let you know when your next exam is coming up if you let them know you would like a reminder.

It’s worth getting regular exams and cleanings to avoid more serious dental work because you neglected your pearly whites.