Steps to healthy looking teeth and gums!

photo credits to www.mymilktoof.blogspot.com

click the link to their page! *cute pictures alert*

Hey guys! Figured that as a dentist I should contribute a little on spreading oral health care so I'm going to share with you the basic steps in my oral health care routine to achieve healthy teeth and gums. ( It will be written in laymen's term and simplified for easy understanding)

First, you need to know a little bit about how tooth decay is formed:

Basically this is what happens when you consume dietary carbohydrates, the bacteria which are present in your mouth will ferment the food to produce acid. The acid produced are responsible for tooth decay.

However, these bacteria cannot just stick on the teeth like that. They need a medium to stay on and this medium is called plaque.

1) TOOTH BRUSHING

What does tooth brushing do? It removes bacteria in form of plaque.

Brushing my teeth is the first thing I do every morning. It may sound like a common sense but there are more than a handful of people who brushes their teeth after taking their breakfast. This is a very very bad habit and it may actually be the cause of you having tooth decay.

The reason for this is, imagine when you are sleeping, there will be decrease in salivary flow, so all the good stuff that the saliva is doing including flushing the bacteria, buffering the pH, remineralizing the tooth are all gone.

When you wake up in the morning, there will be super large amount of bacteria present in your mouth in form of plaque. Not knowing that, you will happily carry these bacteria in your mouth to share your breakfast with! Yuck! So all the bacteria will be eating the carbs that you take in and turn it into acid which eventually dissolves your tooth structure forming a decay.

So please brush your teeth first thing in the morning!!

The right way to brush your teeth:

* reminder: 

- choose a tooth brush with soft bristles and increase your brushing time instead of shortening your brushing time by using hard bristles.

- brush 2 times a day and rinse your mouth after every meal.

2) FLOSSING

I know I know... Flossing can be a difficult routine to follow everyday. But for those pretty ladies and handsome boys out there who spend hours putting on skin care and masks, you can take 1 minute of that time to do some flossing can you?

Why do you need to floss? Tooth brushing removes most of the plaque on the tooth surface. But it cannot remove plaque between the teeth. Why do you always have decay between the teeth? This is probably the reason.

Practice makes perfect!

One minute flossing technique:

Some people have large gap or holes between their teeth. If you are one of them, instead of flossing, you need to use something called an interdental brush.

For this you have to choose the correct size which is suitable for your teeth. Don't ever buy a brush which is bigger than the space between your teeth. It will damage your teeth.

If you are wondering where to get this... You can get it from DAISO for rm5.30 for 4 brushes. Choose the correct size! Or you can get it in any dental clinic with a more expensive price :D

3) TONGUE CLEANING

People often neglect their tongue hygiene. Some of the cases of bad breaths are actually due to not cleaning the tongue properly. The tongue also serves as a reservoir which harvest bacteria and food debris. So make sure your clean your tongue!

How to brush your tongue:

4) MOUTH RINSE

Mouth rinse is the also important if you wanna complete the whole routine. Based on my personal experience, mouth rinse does help in many of my dental problems including sensitive teeth and inflamed gums.

After tooth brushing and flossing, your teeth should be nice and clean. however there will be still some areas that you can't reach. For example the back of your last tooth, your wisdom tooth and so on. Therefore you need a mouth rinse to remove the remaining bacteria, to provide fluoride which strengthens your teeth and freshen up your breath.

What I will recommend is an alcohol-free mouth rinse. (As the alcohol ones may cause dry mouth and research is undergoing on whether it has a relation with causing oral cancer or not.)

Colgate plax range claims to be alcohol free. As for Listerine, they recently came out with listerine zero which is alcohol free. Listerine green tea which Im currently using and in love with its flavour, is also alcohol free ( stated in the ingredient section).

LASTLY,

Visit the dentist every half a year to get a dental check up or scaling done. This will help you save a lot of money compared to going to the dentist when you have a tooth decay to do filling, root canal, crowns, implants and so on.

Thats's all for routine oral health care. Although there are more high tech stuff and all. but stick to the basics! That is all you need! 

Leave me comments below on any questions you wanna ask on oral health and topics that you want me to address on as I will be writing a post on FAQ about dental health.

Thanks for reading! xoxo

Product review : Loreal lip and eye make up remover

Packaging

Not very big. Easy to carry around.
Cap is tight and doesn't spill when I brought it to travel.

Smell

No smell at all which is good as I'm fear of fragrances or chemical that is a burden to my sensitive skin.

Applicator 

Use a cotton pad and pour the amount of make up remover desired.
I usually use 1 cotton for my foundation, and subsequently 1 cotton for both my eyes when I'm wearing light make up. Use 1 cotton for each eyes if u wear heavy make up

Texture

It's oil make up remover. Many feels that oil remover clogs up the pores which I couldn't determine whether it's true or not. But if you are afraid so, then just use it for your eyes and lips not your skin.

Ease of use
It removes make up very efficiently. Although nowadays people opt for other means of removing make up such as water based make up removal, the oil based one's are still the best make up removal. 

Pros and cons

+ removes make up and waterproof mascaras efficiently
+ no irritation to eyes, no burning sensation
- slight blurring of vision when it enters the eyes
- may clog pores

Summary

It's a good product for its price. I usually use this when I'm wearing thick make up as it removes nice and clean.
I'm currently trying out Shu uemura's make up removal that is much raved about as I usually put on only sunscreen not full foundation. Will blog about it soon.

Details

Size 125ml

Price rm 23.65

Made in Indonesia

Product review : Naked urban decay eye shadow (Basics)

Packaging

Small and simple. Easy to carry around and is durable so it wouldn't crack when you drop it accidentally.

Applicator 

It doesn't comes with an applicator. The easiest method is to either use your finger or using an eyeshadow brush.

Texture

It's powder based. Very powdery in fact. Therefore using your finger to apply might be better to prevent thick powdery makeup on your eyes.
The Venus colour has very fine shimmers in it which is great for highlights.

Coverage

The colour is not very vivid except the black one. Therefore repeated application is needed to achieve the desired colour gradient.

Colour

I love the colour from this palette as earth colours are always my favourite. But I do prefer some glitters in the Brown colour as well instead or just the venus colour. But there are other naked palette with glitter colour selections.

Summary

Overall it's quite a good product for daily simple make up use. But it's requires repeated applications of the colour to be vivid. Therefore I would prefer Kate eyeshadow than this.

Pros cons

+ simple  basic colours
+ good for everyday make up
+ easy to use to highlighting and contouring of eye shape.
- colours are not vivid enough.
- requires few applications the achieve the depth of colours needed.

Details

Price rm118.00

Made in USA

Product review : Étude house Acne cleanser

Hey guys! Today I'm gonna introduce you to the best cleanser that I've ever used!!

Étude house acne foam cleanser~

Packaging

Comes in a large tube. It is quite hard to squeeze out coz the consistency is really thick.

Smell

Doesn't smell good. It's like sort of a medicine smell which I feel like my skin is treated every single time I use~

Applicator 

No applicator. Squeeze out about 1cm of the cleanser on your palm, mix with some water and rub into an even leather.

Texture

Bubbles:

Not much bubbles. Especially when your face is oily, the bubbles will just disappear right when it touches your face. Then you can either wash once more or add more cleanser. It feels like the cleanser reacts with the oil?? Not very sure.

After effect:

Although the bubbles are less, the cleansing effect is not reduced at all. It leaves the skin non oily, clean and dry without tightening of skin. It also controls sebum production! Usually my skin get really oily after around 2-3 hours. After using this, it lengthens the time before the skin becomes oily, around 4-5 hours?

Ingredient & Function

Salicylic acid

Non comodogenic. Which means it wouldn't cause pimples.

Summary

This product is great for those with oily skin. Introduced this to my friends and brother, they say it really worked in reducing sebum production. You know when you have oily skin, dust and whatever it is tends to stick onto your skin and into your pores. As time goes by, it forms black and white heads. And when these gets infected, it will cause inflammation and forms pimples. Therefore when you have less oily skin, you will have less pimples!

Pros cons

+ removes oil
+ cleanses skin thoroughly
+ decrease sebum secretion
- dries out skin
- not suitable for dry acne skin 

Details

Size 150ml

Price rm49

Made in korea

Product review : Bobbi brown corrector

Packaging

It's simple and classic looking. Very small and light. You can just toss it in ur bag to touch up your make up anytime! It also has a tiny mirror in it in case you can't go to toilet for touch up.

Applicator 

Doesn't come with an applicator. I suggest applying it with a concealer brush. You can also use your finger.... But dust will get stuck in it and its so hard to take them out without scooping and wasting loads of the concealer. So.... Just go get a brush xD

*reminder : Keep it in cool place. I've tried putting it near some warm place and it turned into this soft, creamy, oily texture. It'll turn back to normal after it cools down.. But I think it will loose its original structure, coz it happened to mine. New ones always seem to have better coverage, i think its becoz of this haha~

Texture

Stickiness: 

very thick and creamy. Therefore better coverage. Recommended to conceal pimples, blemishes, moles.

Moisturising effect:

Smooth and doesn't flake. Not dry upon application, but after around.... 2-3 hours the skin starts to dry up and it will start to flake. So bring it out with you if you are planning to go out for long hours.

Coverage

I would say quite good. Had been using this for 5 years. I use this as eye concealer (but it's recommended to use liquid ones on eyes) But my skin is very dry now, including the skin under my eyes, therefore it doesn't really stay and it will have this wrinkly appearance after few hours when it dries up. So I think it suits moisten skin better. Using it on other parts of the face is okay though.

Colour

I'm using Light peach. It's a little pinkish and suits my skin better. I've tried Natural before this, it's too yellow for my skin. Make sure you choose the correct colour for your skin tone! Ask for help from the counter lady~ They will help you match your skin colour. It's best to get a tone lighter than your skin tone if you have very dark eye circles like me~

How long will it last

As I mentioned earlier, it dries up after 2-3 hours and you havta reapply it. However, if you skin is moist, you apply moisturiser and all, then it will last longer. But of cos on oily skin, it's like any other concealer, when it gets oily, it will start to be diffused at the margins. You can use oil blot to clear off the oil first then reapply.

Ease of application

Very easy. If I'm rushing I usually use my finger n just dap it under my eyes. Super fast and easy to blend out. Will not leave patches~

Summary

It's really good. Tried a few cheap and expensive concealer and always comes back to using this. Works well especially good for emergency situation where you need fast touch up on your make up.

Additinal Details

Size 

1.4g

Price

Rm95?

Made in

USA

Pros cons

+ small packaging, easy to carry around.

+ thick consistency, coverage is good.

+ doesn't really flake unless you have dry skin.

+ wide range of colour to choose the best suitable colour for your skin.

+ very easy application, even comes with a tiny mirror for convenience.

+ blends out well, will not leave patches.

- dries up skin relatively fast.

- repeated application needed

- not suitable for dry skin and for use under eyes.

- pricey

Feel free to drop me comments :)

Thanks for reading! Xoxo~

Product review : Dolly wink brow kit

Today I'm gonna review on dolly wink brow palette.

Drawing brows is actually one of the most important step before I step out of the house. I actually can't leave the house without drawing my brows coz I'll look so different although I do have quite a thick pair of brows.

 But the thing is, I don't like brows which are really drawn on like with brow pencil. It's so unnatural. So I had been using brown eye shadow to colour my brows. Thank God some one invented something called brow powder! It can be used as eye shadow too! 

Packaging

Comes in a small black oval palatte. A Dolly wink brow kit actually comes in 2 colours. 

The dark 1 is to colour your brows as the base colour while the light 1 is to brush onto your brows as a finishing coat after the dark colour to make the brows look smoother. The light 1 can be used as a nose shadow too!

Applicator 

Comes with a small brow brush. Bristles are quite hard, you wouldn't need to use a separate brush to comb your brows.

Colour

The brow kit is available in 3 types of colour combination to match different hair colour. The palette I chose is the darkest as I have black hair right now. 

The colour is quite pigmented, non glittery, which is great to create natural looking brows! If you want a darker colour just go over the area a few more times.

Reminder: apply the colour before using eye brow pencil. Fill in the bald spots with the brow shadow and then outline the brows with the pencil. Brush on the lighter colour to create a smooth brow effect.

Ease of application

Easy. Just a few strokes and your brows will look thicker and tidier.

Pros cons

+ moderately pigmented, creating natural looking brows.

+ small and easy to carry around.

+ easy to use

+ colour stays on for 5-6 hours.

Details

Price: rm 41.00

Made in:

Japan

Summary

I really love this product. It is so easy to use and the colour stays on throughout the day. It can also double up as a nose shadow powder using the lighter colour one.

Product review : Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express mascara

Do you want a pair of beautiful eyes with long and voluminous eye lashes? Read on to find out how you can achieve this look without the help of fake lashes!

Claims

Packaging

It comes in a sexy purple colour! :D with lace details~ fusiform shaped, easy to hold without dropping it ( I have butter fingers heh ;) )

Applicator brush

The brush is the soft classical type, criss crossed nylon bristles. It has a curved spoon design to it which will adapt better to the curvature of the eyes. There's even a friendly note here saying : use spoon brush with this side against lashes. How sweet~

*reminder : 

Texture

Fibre:

Loads and loads of fibre!! Super rich. It's like every stroke fills your lashes with fibres but they are not heavy at all! It won't make your lashes droopy. So amazing!

Consistency:

Very thick. Dries up fast, around 3-4 secs. No worries on smudging onto lower lids when you accidentally blink your eyes :) I bought the one in Black Drama. seriously damn black and dramatic LOL. me likey!! Great for creating dolly look!

Water proof

This might be the only negative point. Sadly It's not water proof :( I didn't know coz my sis bought this for me. Then I went to bathe without removing my make up. When I came out of the bathe room I got the shock of my life -.- looked like those girls who cried with mascara in the show xD and did I not already mention it's DAMN BLACK? Hahaha. Imagine that. I nearly got a heart attack -.-

Smear/smudge proof

I think it's quite smudge proof for a non water resistant mascara? Worn it to prom when I still had oily skin, it did not smudge even a little to my lower lids :)

Fix

What I LOVE about Maybelline mascaras is that they fixes your lashes in place so well!! Like if you curl your lashes nicely, it will take up the shape, will not make it droop even abit! Drooping is the thing I hate the most! Coz I spend alot of time curling my lashes and make sure it's in good shape before I apply mascara on. This is my 3rd Maybelline mascara and it still works like magic. I've tried many super branded and expensive mascaras which still droops your lashes. Quickly go get a Maybelline mascara right now if you have drooping problem!!

Ease of application

To be frank, it's a little harder to apply than the other Maybelline mascaras I had. Coz the bristle are abit too long. Applying Upper lashes is okay, but when it comes to lower lashes, it's really way to big! Even how careful I apply it will still get my lower lids. My advise is either use a card to block your lower lids beneath the lashes when u apply or use a comb type brush. I use the comb type brush from my Maybelline Cat eye series. It's okay too if you wanna just use it for upper lashes and use other for lower lashes. But the long and rich fibres look really nice and will definitely volumize you lower lashes!!

How to apply?

To get the long and dramatic lashes, follow these steps:

Apply in zig zag motion at the roots of the lashes. ONLY THE ROOTS!

Then pull out, upwards and straight direction.

Repeat the steps for the other parts. 

Make sure you follow the fan shape of your lashes. Front lashes brush toward head of your eye brows. Middle forward outwards. Back lashes outwards towards tail of you eye brow.

Pros cons

+ sexy packaging, easy to hold.

+ Brush is soft and can be manipulated relatively easily.

+ Tons of fibre! Totally double up the amount of lashes you have!

+ Dries fast, no mess.

+ Dark, opaque colour, thick consistency.

+ smear and smudge proof.

+ Fixes curled lashes shape brilliantly!

- Kinda tough for application on lower lashes.

- Not water proof :(

Details

Size

8.2ml

Price

Rm35++?

Made in

Italy~

Summary

I really love this mascara!! One of the best I've ever used. Maybelline mascara rocks! :D

Thanks for reading~ xoxo!