How much of an eye do you keep on your teeth and gums? Do you notice the way your tongue goes awry when you’re under the weather or ulcers pop up out of nowhere? Or maybe you’ve realised you wake up with a sore jaw when you’re stressed? Despite our oral health being one of the first indications of a breakdown in general health, NHS dentists remained closed for regular appointments for a huge portion of the UK’s lockdowns, leading to a backlog of patients, an increase in emergency dental intervention and a woeful decline in the oral hygiene of the nation. “Our mouths contain tell-tale signs that can reveal everything from poor diet, to stress or pregnancy,” says dentist Dr Hanna Kinsella. “Maintaining regular dentist appointments is vital to oral health as well as your overall health.”

While the mouth is an indicator of our wellbeing, it’s also the place that’s often first impacted when times are rough. “Stress can cause people to pick up habits they didn’t have before, like emotionally eating, so they may snack more often and this can contribute to tooth decay,” warns Dr Zainab Al-Mukhtar. Add this to the inaccessibility of appointments over the past pandemic year and you have a potential recipe for decay disaster. That’s not even including the way stress manifests through things such as jaw clenching and gum and tongue ulcers. Dr Mervyn Druian, co-founder of The London Centre for Cosmetic Dentistry, has seen a 110% increase in the need for night guards at his practice due to bruxism – aka teeth grinding – while dentist Dr Rhona Eskander has seen a particular rise in gum disease.

Prior to the pandemic, I didn’t have any fillings or any tooth problems. Now, one year and three emergency appointments in, I’ve had three fillings, one root canal and an extraction and I know I’m not the only one who’s suffered from a new wave of dental issues during lockdown. “Since being back at the practice, I have seen a dramatic rise in dental decay as well as gum problems such as gingivitis and periodontal (gum) disease,” says Dr Millie Morrison, dental ambassador for ION-Sei toothbrushes. “I am seeing patients who have historically been relatively stable when it comes to their oral health but are now starting to see problems, whether that’s inflammation of the gums, dental decay, tooth wear or sore muscles and joints in the mouth and particularly the jaw.”

So is standard brushing no longer enough? Thankfully, even though a dentist might be harder to book right now than a post-lockdown dinner at Duck & Waffle, there are a handful of incredible dental innovations that will take your oral-care routine to the next level.

You may have seen eco-friendly bamboo toothbrushes circulating for a couple of years now but for those of us who are used to an electric toothbrush, it’s hard to part ways with that easy, ultra-clean feeling and switch back to manual brushing. Spotting the gap in the market, UK brand Organically Epic has launched the Sonic Wave Electric Bamboo Toothbrush, £79.95, to fuse efficacy with sustainability. The changeable heads are made of FSC-certified bamboo while the bristles are formed using Japanese Binchotan white charcoal. Plus, the lithium-ion battery holds around a month’s worth of charge. If manual brushing is your go-to, Colgate has just launched the RecyClean, £4. The handle is made from 100% recycled plastic and the bristles are from renewable plant-based materials.

As dentists work through a backlog of patients for in-person appointments, apps such as Tooth Fairy have flourished, particularly for cosmetic treatments such as straightening and whitening. With Tooth Fairy you’re able to safely get your hands on professional-grade whitening through the post, as well as chat to a dental expert anytime through the app. “We’ve seen a large increase in patients during this pandemic improving their smiles through whitening and straightening. At the same time, we’ve also seen the other extreme – an increasing number of patients being unable to access their dentist who are now discovering digital solutions such as our app to access a dentist for advice and emergencies,” says Dr Deepak Aulak, founder of the tele-dental company.

Nowadays, there aren’t many consumables you can’t get on subscription, and that includes toothpaste. Happier Beauty’s new toothpaste subscription, from £16, ensures you’re never caught short, dentally. You can pick a two, three or four-month subscription and each box contains two tubes. Despite its modern appearance, the paste contains traditional ingredients like (all important) fluoride and potassium citrate but rather than sodium laureth sulphate, it uses a gentler coconut-derived foaming agent.

Similarly, Pärla’s sustainable Toothpaste Tabs (£20 for a four-month supply) – tiny solid tablets of concentrated toothpaste – are also available on subscription. The first delivery comes housed in a refillable glass jar, but all subsequent batches come in a sachet.

Like the rest of the beauty industry, the dental world is constantly playing with buzzy ingredients and methods to update our routines. Take hyped ingredient CBD, for instance. LA Pacific Gum Health Enzyme Whitening Toothpaste, £8 contains a CBD complex with aloe vera and vitamin E for advanced gum care and protection. Or if you want to try out a new texture, beauty brand Ringana has reinvented toothpaste altogether launching its Fresh Tooth Balm, £11.88, just last year. The balm includes sodium fluoride as well as goldenrod extract for natural oral health benefits. It’s a gentle option if you’ve been going hard with the more abrasive whitening formulas of late.

Ask any dentist and they’ll tell you that brushing is only halfway to a healthy smile. What’s vital is the work you do in between your teeth. Interdental brushes and floss will do the job but the new Waterpik Cordless Select Flosser, £69.99, allows you to clean those harder-to-reach areas even more expertly. It also stops you from needing to brush too abrasively at the gum. “Aggressive tooth brushing may cause recession so by using the Waterpik to clean at the gumline we are preventing overzealous tooth brushing,” says ambassador Dr Rhona Eskander.