As a dentist, I know how important it is to take care of your teeth, and also how easy it is!
The best thing you can do for your teeth to prevent any issues while at sea on a long voyage is to brush your teeth! When you are sailing, time drags out and you have long periods with nothing to do. This is excellent because this is when you can brush your teeth like a dentist.
Everyone knows that you should brush twice a day for two minutes each time. That’s nice but it doesn’t really work. You need to brush twice a day and you need to do it well! The average American brushes for about 7-15 seconds! Now that you are at sea, you have plenty of time to do it right.
The first thing you need to do is stop brushing your teeth and start cleaning each tooth individually.
The toothbrush is not a chore machine that you pass over your teeth, it is a tool to help you clean your teeth.
Focus on cleaning each and every tooth. Start on the bottom back right and clean the last molar, now after it’s spotless, scoot forward one tooth and clean the molar in front of that, next the premolar, and on and on. When you finally finish the bottom arch, it’s time to clean the top arch.
How do you know when your teeth are clean? This one is very easy, you just need to use a very sensitive and agile appendage to feel your teeth: Your tongue!
Rub your tongue over each tooth. If you feel anything rough or sticky or anything other than slippery smooth, brush it a little more and recheck.
You have 32 teeth if you never had your wisdom teeth removed, and if you did, then you only have 28 teeth to clean. This whole process takes me about 4-5 minutes to carry out and my teeth are spotless at the end of it all.
In all honesty, this is fine on calm days when the time drags on forever; but on days when the wind will not relinquish you from the whips of furry brushing is the last thing on your mind.
When we have found ourselves hove to in a gale for days or just in terrible seas, brushing my teeth is the last thing on my mind. If brushing occurs that day, it will be fast and sloppy because the last thing I want to do is fall over with a tooth brush in my mouth! I honestly forget to brush unless Maddie reminds me of it. Once the weather calms down and we switch out our storm sails for our working sails, I get to relaxing in the cockpit and my tongue will notice how fuzzy my teeth feel!
And so begins the ritual of brushing my teeth in calm weather.
Fun tip: if you pull up a bucket load of clean ocean salt water, use that to brush your teeth. The salt in the water will do wonders for your gums and your mouth will feel great! I honestly prefer brushing my teeth with ocean water over using regular fresh water or even rain water!
A toothbrush is a wonderful tool to clean your teeth but it won’t repair neglect or decay! Always visit with your dentist and have them take X-rays before you set out in a long voyage. If your insurance won’t cover X-rays because of frequency limitations, pay it out of pocket! Catching a problem and fixing it while on shore is so much better than having an issue flare up while at sea and far from a dentist.
