A dentist has revealed the simple and common mistakes people make before and after a dental appointment, as well as the food and beverages you should avoid.
Dr Khaled Kasem, chief orthodontist at Impress told The Mirror about things you should do before your visit to the dentist and what you should avoid doing after the appointment.
Dr Kasem says you should brush your teeth before seeing a dentist.
He said: "It's really important that you brush your teeth and avoid eating certain types of food beforehand, like garlic.
"Before coming in, you should also avoid drinking beverages like coffee, tea, Coke and red wine as these can all stain your teeth."
You should also avoid some drinks after an appointment.
Dr Khaled said: "Try to avoid having acidic drinks like orange juice or soda as these can really affect the teeth."
The biggest mistake you could make is to drink something like orange juice, and then brush your teeth straight away afterwards
You can lose vital minerals and this in turn could weaken the enamel.
Dr Kasem said: "Try to avoid brushing your teeth after drinking an acidic beverage because this would be like brushing the acid from the drink into your teeth.
"There is a phase when you drink an acidic beverage, this is what we call demineralisation and this is where minerals are removed from the teeth.
"Following this, the saliva would then do what we call remineralisation and this will help put back the minerals in the teeth."
"If you brush your teeth before the remineralisation stage takes place, you'll avoid this phase, so usually it's a good idea to wait for half an hour to an hour after consuming acidic food and drink before brushing your teeth."
The dentist also urges people to brush their teeth twice a day for at least two minutes each time, but for even longer at night if possible.
This is so that the fluoride in your toothpaste, which helps prevent tooth decay, can work all through the night while you're asleep.
Additionally, last week, Doctor Parneet Sehmi, principal dentist at Hermes London Dental Clinic, shared early warnings of mouth cancer to look out for.
He said: "Mouth cancer can have a devastating impact on people's lives.
"With cases of mouth cancer alarmingly on the rise, it is important that people become more aware and alert to the symptoms.
"Hopefully, with more people aware, we can do more to increase the chances of people catching the disease during an earlier stage."
