Anyone who brushes their teeth knows molars are the most hard-to-reach areas of their mouth. Since these teeth are at the back, they are out of sight, and cleaning them thoroughly can be difficult. Many people find it cumbersome to clean behind and between molars and also on the deep crevasses and grooves.

Molars, or our back teeth, have ridges and grooves, enabling us to chew food. But on the downside, these ridges and grooves can collect plaque, food debris, and bacteria. On top of it, they are also constantly exposed to acids and pressures, which causes more wear and tear and weakening faster than your other teeth.

So, what are some ways to properly care for our molars? Let us find out in this article and some tips on recognizing if your molars or other teeth are unhealthy.

Significance of Molars in Our Teeth Setup

Even though molars are towards the back of your mouth and when you smile, one can not figure out if your molars are healthy or not, they are an essential part of our mouth because of the following reasons:

• Without molars, it is difficult to eat hard foods – Food is easier to swallow if it is ground well, and they are the ones that can grind food into smaller pieces that are easier to swallow. Eating would have been more difficult if we did not have molars.
• Without molars, your other teeth could shift out of place – They provide support due to which teeth are held in place. If we removed them, the remaining teeth would start drifting out of place, causing a domino effect, and your mouth would end up with crooked teeth.
• You could start looking aged and sunken without molars – Through the molars’ roots, blood flow to jawbones is stimulated. If there were no molars, the jawbones would shrink, making your facial bones drift and causing your cheeks to appear sunken and aged.

Preventive Steps to Keep Molars Healthy

Tooth decay occurs over time when the bacteria in your mouth start forming plaque (a sticky film) on the surface of your teeth. Some tips for maintaining healthy molars are as follows:

• Brush minimum twice a day – Ensure you brush your teeth, paying more attention to the molars twice a day. It is the most effective way to stop plaque buildup in the areas of your mouth you can not reach easily.
• Floss – At least once a day, all of us should floss our teeth to ensure food particles stuck between our teeth are gone. Studies have shown that flossing before brushing is more effective in removing interdental plaque.
• Do not leave food particles in your mouth – Bacteria in fermented sugars found in many foods can convert into plaque within your mouth within 20 minutes. So it is essential to remove plaque around the molars with dental floss and a toothbrush every day.
• Consider electric toothbrushes or interdental brushes – If you use electric toothbrushes, they can help you remove almost 100% more plaque than a normal manual toothbrush. You could also use interdental brushes, which are small brushes designed in such a way that they can reach areas a normal toothbrush cannot. The interdental brushes could complement your usual toothbrush to keep them free from bacteria efficiently.
• Use water flosser – Since flossing the interiors of your mouth could be challenging, you could use water flossers that can loosen food debris from hidden areas of the mouth.
• Eat healthy – The importance of healthy eating is always emphasized. Eating healthy food and avoiding sweets or sweetened drinks makes you much less likely to get gum disease.

Signs of Healthy Teeth and Gum

You can be sure whether your teeth are healthy or you need to visit your dentist by observing the following:

• Study teeth – Loose teeth occur only in kids, so if you are an adult having wiggly teeth, it’s a sign of gum disease. If you have fillings or crowns, the same rule also applies to them. Over time, dental work can get dislodged and accumulate bacteria and plaque, so always look out for loose spots.
• Neutral breath smell – Our mouths, if healthy, should have a neutral odor. A foul order from your mouth denotes bacteria might be hiding beneath your gums.
• Blood should not ooze while brushing or flossing – In the first few days of flossing, it is natural to have some bleeding. But if blood comes out of your gums even after the first few days, the plaque has built up around the gum line. 

Molars are as significant as your pearly white teeth, so practice good oral hygiene. You must also visit your dentist regularly as they can identify signs of plaque build and other gum diseases early on and intervene accordingly.