Are you having teeth trouble? Has your dental care routine gotten a little lazy? Or are you just looking for tips to teach your kids how to protect their teeth?

Whatever the reason, look no further. We’ve created this complete list of teeth tips so you can brush up on your dental knowledge (dental puns, HA!).

Below are the top 10 ways to take care of your teeth. Read on to learn how to preserve teeth the proper way.

1. Know the Truth: Your Mouth Is Disgusting

Knowing and remembering this simple truth will make you never want to skip brushing again. Your mouth is home to billions of bacteria. And it’s not just any home; it’s the perfect home.

Bacteria love warm, moist areas with a constant supply of food (like your mouth). And they live to break things down and make them rot. It’s their sole function.

You don’t want to make it easy for them to carry out this function on your teeth and gums, do you? Then keep their population down with proper dental care.

2. Brush Two Times for Two Minutes

The action of brushing and the special ingredients of the toothpaste serve two functions. They remove bacteria that harm your teeth and gums and they remove the food particles that these bacteria feed off of. It is the feeding of these bacteria that causes cavities.

Brushing twice a day for 2 minutes is the most effective way to achieve these two functions of brushing.

3. Use Toothpaste with Fluoride

The fluoride in fluoridated toothpaste also helps to strengthen your teeth. It hardens tooth enamel and reduces the risk of tooth decay.

4. Don’t Forget to Brush Your Tongue

Your teeth aren’t the only place these bacteria live. Your tongue is loaded with them, too. Brushing your tongue when you brush your teeth will further hinder bacteria growth and defeat bad breath.

5. Don’t Forget the Morning Brush

It’s often tempting to skip the morning brush. If you don’t eat breakfast, you may think your teeth are still clean from the night before. If you drink coffee throughout the morning, you may think, “Why clean my teeth just to dirty them with coffee?”

But then, you’re forgetting the most important function of brushing. It’s not just the food and drinks you’re cleaning off your teeth but the bacteria as well. Though you splash your teeth with coffee, it still takes a while for your mouth bacteria to recover from the morning brush.

6. Don’t Overbrush or Brush Too Hard

After the disturbing explanation in point one, it’s tempting to get overzealous in your brushing habits. But doing so will do more harm than good.

Brushing too long or too often will wear down both your enamel and your gumline. This exposes a porous sublayer of your tooth called dentin.

The exposed pores in your dentin are a direct pathway to your nerve endings. This makes teeth painfully extra sensitive to temperature, pressure, acidity and other factors.

Brushing too hard has the same effect as overbrushing. It will cause you to join the 20% of Americans with oversensitive teeth. Instead, gently polish your teeth with the brush.

7. Take Care of Your Gumline with a Soft-Bristled Brush

Gently brushing along the gumline with a soft-bristled brush removes plaque hiding in your gumline. It also stimulates gums and promotes gum health. But harsh brushing with a hard-bristled brush damages gums and erodes your enamel.

8. Floss Once a Day

There are bacteria and food particles between your teeth as well. Brushing alone isn’t enough to wipe these suckers out. Make sure you floss once a day, too.

Flossing also clears away plaque, which will become tartar buildup if left alone. And tarter buildup is the stuff dentists have to scrape off your teeth with metal tools. In short, not flossing leads to a longer dentist appointment.

9. Don’t Drink Soda

Dentists hate soda. Sugar and high acidity are terrible for your teeth–and soda is the worst offender.

Each bottle of Coca-Cola you drink is more than 10% sugar. And even diet sodas are highly acidic, enough to eat away at your enamel with each sip.

10. Get a Professional Cleaning Every 6 Months

A professional dental cleaning every 6 months is necessary to maintain good dental health. If you haven’t been doing this, start now.

Research the dentists in your area to find a good-quality dentist you are comfortable with. They should have a nice office, friendly staff and an informative website such as http://drkevinsorge.com/. Then call, walk in, or go online and set up an appointment.

How to Preserve Teeth

Now that you know how to preserve teeth, do it! Follow these dental tips for a strong enamel and healthy gumline.

And spread the word. Share these tips with others, especially children.

For related reading, try The Do’s and Don’ts of Having Your Teeth Whitened.