Under normal circumstances, the ADA recommends visiting your dentist every six months for a routine checkup and teeth cleaning. However, due to the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, most dental offices around the country are either closed entirely or limiting their services to emergency dentistry only.
It may be a few months before you’re able to see your dentist again, but there’s no need to panic. Unless you have a painful dental emergency that needs immediate treatment, you can successfully manage your dental care on your own for the time being.
Keep Your Smile Healthy While at Home
Even though you can’t visit your North Tampa dentist for preventive care at the moment, you can still keep your teeth healthy and happy.
To maintain your oral health during coronavirus, we suggest doing the following:
- Keep up on your oral hygiene, including daily flossing. A pandemic is no time to let your daily habits slide! Continue doing everything you would do under normal circumstances, and add in an extra regular brushing or mouthwash rinse for good measure.
- Replace your toothbrush regularly. Dentists recommend swapping your toothbrush out about every 90 days, but during a medical outbreak, you can never be too careful. Replace your toothbrush immediately if you or anyone else in your household has been sick, and keep your toothbrush in a separate bathroom if anyone is presumed positive for COVID-19.
- Maintain extra-clean hands. Everyone is washing their hands more than usual right now, but scrubbing germs away is extra essential right before you brush and floss. Any time your hands will come into contact with your face, mouth, and teeth, make sure they’re spotless.
- Drink plenty of water. You need to stay hydrated 365 days a year, but our dentist recommends extra glasses of water while you’re home and unable to get general dentistry in North Tampa. Fluoride-containing water helps strengthen your teeth while washing away unwanted bacteria from your mouth.
Schedule a Dental Appointment for the Future
Our dental office plans to resume a regular schedule on Monday, May 11. We invite you to schedule a future dental appointment once we continue with general dentistry care in May. Don’t put off the dental care you need—call us at (813) 968-5368!