Nutrition & Prevention · Absolute Dental West Perth

Preventive Dental Care: The Everyday Habits That Matter Most

By Absolute DentalPublished 10 September 20243 min read
Edited 7 October 2026

Most of your dental care happens at home. The habits below do the heavy lifting, and a check-up is where we look at how they’re working for you.

Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
Clean between your teeth once a day.
Keep sugary food and drink to mealtimes.
See your dentist at the gap your own risk suggests. Many experts suggest around every six months (healthdirect, tooth decay).

Which habits have the strongest evidence?

Fluoride toothpaste prevents decay compared with toothpaste without fluoride. That’s the conclusion of a 2019 Cochrane review of 96 studies (Walsh et al., 2019).

The Australian Dental Association recommends brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and cleaning between your teeth every day (healthdirect, tooth decay).

Most Australian tap water contains added fluoride. The NHMRC backs community water fluoridation as a safe, effective way to lower tooth decay (NHMRC, 2017).

Why does how often you eat matter?

Plaque bacteria turn sugar into acid, and acid slowly damages enamel (healthdirect, tooth decay). Each sip or snack starts another round, so how often you have sugar matters as well as how much.

Keeping sugary food and drink to mealtimes gives your teeth longer between acid attacks (healthdirect, tooth decay). The WHO advises keeping free sugars below 10% of daily energy, with extra benefit below 5% (WHO sugars guideline, 2015; Moynihan and Kelly, 2014).

Dry mouth changes the picture. Decay can develop faster with less saliva, so a dry mouth is a reason for more frequent check-ups (ADA, teeth.org.au, dry mouth).

What does a check-up cover?

Your dentist looks for decay and wear, measures your gums, checks the soft tissues and asks about changes in your health and medicines. X-rays are taken when they’ll help answer a question (ADA, teeth.org.au, dental X-rays).

Tell us about new medicines, pregnancy or a diabetes diagnosis. Gum disease and diabetes affect each other, so it changes what your gums need (Sanz et al., 2018).

What changes your own risk?

Snacking and sipping through the day
Dry mouth from medicines or other causes (ADA, teeth.org.au, dry mouth)
Skipped check-ups (healthdirect, tooth decay)
Pregnancy, diabetes or smoking (healthdirect, gum disease; ADA, teeth.org.au, pregnancy)

If a few of these sound familiar, we’ll look for two or three changes that fit your day. There’s no lecture. Our nutrition and prevention guide shows how that conversation goes.

Sources

Where To Read Next

Want more on this topic? This page goes further, and it lists questions to bring to your visit.

Nutrition & Prevention Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

The interval should suit your mouth and your risk of disease. Many dental experts suggest around six months, but that is a starting point for discussion rather than a rule for everyone (healthdirect, tooth decay). Ask your dentist why they recommend a particular gap for you.

Bring up changes since the last visit: new symptoms, medicines, dry mouth or difficulty keeping up with cleaning. Your dentist can use that information alongside the examination to plan the next review. A check-up is also a chance to see whether the home-care advice is practical for your daily routine.

Before you leave, ask what the next visit will involve and which changes should prompt an earlier call. Pain, swelling or a broken tooth should not wait just because a routine check-up is booked later. If cost or time makes regular visits difficult, say so; understanding the proposed schedule lets you discuss a workable plan instead of guessing when to return.

healthdirect (Australian Government). Tooth decay

Yes. Fluoride toothpaste helps prevent decay, with evidence supporting it over toothpaste without fluoride (Walsh and colleagues, Cochrane, 2019). The product and amount should suit the person using it, especially a young child who may swallow toothpaste.

For everyday care, healthdirect recommends brushing twice daily with fluoride toothpaste, spitting afterwards and avoiding a water rinse that washes the toothpaste away (healthdirect, tooth decay). Ask your dentist to check your technique if you are unsure how much to use or which areas you miss.

If the taste, foam or texture makes brushing difficult, bring the tube to your appointment and explain the problem. You can discuss another suitable product without abandoning fluoride altogether. For children, ask for advice matched to their age and ability to spit rather than sharing an adult routine unchanged. Toothpaste is one part of prevention; your dentist can also help you choose a realistic cleaning and food routine.

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How often should I have a check-up?

healthdirect (Australian Government). Tooth decay

Is fluoride toothpaste worth using?

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