If you have dental insurance, familiarize yourself with your plan so you know what is covered and how. For example, if you require a dental filling and would prefer a composite material, evaluate the benefits allocated in your plan for composite fillings. Many insurance companies will only reimburse composite filling costs at a rate equal to that of an amalgam filling. You would be required to pay the remaining balance as an out-of-pocket expense.

Cosmetic dental procedures are not typically covered by dental insurance. However, if you have insurance and require veneers for restorative purposes, ask your dentist about the possibility of filing for reimbursement for a percentage of the costs. Also, if you are undergoing a smile makeover that will involve multiple necessary treatments as prerequisites (e.g., root canals or bite adjustments), some of those costs may be covered by insurance.

Read more: What’s Covered by Dental Insurance?

The evolution of the electric toothbrush has come a long way during the last several decades. The first electric toothbrushes were introduced to the consumers' marketplace about 50 years ago.

The newest type of electric toothbrush design is the "sonic toothbrush" (as characterized by the Sonicare ® toothbrush). The cleansing action of these brushes is based on a technology that makes it possible for them to have a cleaning effect beyond where the tips of their bristles actually touch. This is a claim no other type of electric toothbrush design has ever been able to make.

It's easy to identify a sonic toothbrush by way of the high rate of speed at which its brush head vibrates. The brush head of a sonic toothbrush is capable of creating in excess of 30,000 brush strokes per minute. (The latest models of sonic toothbrushes can create more than 40,000 brush strokes per minute. In comparison conventional electric toothbrushes typically operate at frequencies ranging between 2,500 and 7,500 strokes per minute). It is the vibrational motion of these brushes that sets them apart from all previous generations of electric toothbrush design.

Read more: Sonic toothbrush

Good dental health is an absolute must if you want your teeth to last a life time. However, most people ignore elementary facts of dental hygiene and suffer the consequence of it. All this can be avoided if they take a few steps to maintain oral hygiene and try their level best to stick to them.

Step1: Eating healthy is the first step which you should take and ask your children (if you are a parent) to take as well. As a rule, avoid sugary foods (especially those which are sticky). These foods tend to get accumulated in between teeth and gums and become breeding ground for enamel eroding bacteria. A result of this is cavities which are ugly-looking and can be painful as well.

Read more: How to Maintain Oral Hygiene

1. New born babies have no caries forming bacteria. Infact, it is the babies mother who transmits the plaque forming bacteria by blowing on food before feeding and kissing the babies mouth

2. Saccharine Sodium which is generally used as a sweetening agent in toothpaste is 500 times sweeter than sugar.

3. Always replace a toothbrush after you had a cold, sore throat or notorious infections. The bacteria plant them on the toothbrush which can lead to reinfection

Read more: 10 Facts about Oral Health