While the holidays are a time of family, friends, and a little self-indulgence, the New Year is a time for goal setting. The top New Years’ resolutions are always dominated by self-improvement like:

• Get healthy
• Get organized
• Get fit
• Read more
• Stress less

Although many people set New Years’ resolutions, 80% of them fail by February. Dr. Walkington and the team at Wildflower Dental & Orthodontics have some tips and tricks for some New Year’s resolutions to improve your dental habits that are so simple, it makes it easy to be successful.

Floss More

In a perfect world, you would floss daily, but unfortunately many of us don’t floss all that regularly. Like any habit, you set yourself up to fail if you try to take on too much at once. Take baby steps to get there so it is attainable. Commit to flossing at least four times a week and once you’ve accomplished that, add one more occurrence into your routine.

Flossing more often will help you to prevent gum disease, which is a simple way to impact, your overall health. It’s perfectly in keeping with the self-improvement spirit of the season!

Schedule a Professional Dental Cleaning

If it’s been more than six months since you’ve come in to see Dr. Walkington, you’re overdue. Even if you’re diligent and fastidious with your brushing and flossing, plaque is still likely to build up, and un-removed plague buildup becomes tartar. Your twice-yearly dental checkups are essential to removing tartar, as it can only be removed professionally once formed.

Bonus: Entrepreneur magazine recommends the following list of steps to help you succeed at your New Year’s Resolutions (of all varieties, dental or otherwise):

Let’s start 2018 on the right foot, building habits that will keep your smile healthy and bright! Get in touch with our team to learn more about flossing techniques or to set up your next dental check-up.