Are you brushing your teeth correctly?

Yes, you read that right 🙂

Did you know that many of us don’t actually brush our teeth correctly when it comes to using manual and electrical toothbrushes? Wild right, we are taught as soon as our first tooth comes through how to brush our teeth, or we should be at least, but so little time is actually spent learning how to do it properly.

Never fear, that’s what we are here for…. to help you get the best out of your dental care and hopefully help you make the transition to a more natural dental care routine.

Here are our tops tips on how to the get the best our your toothbrush, electric or manual;

Manual toothbrushing

1. Try not to push the toothbrush into your teeth by brushing too firmly.
2. Use the correct bristle strength for your teeth. Soft, Medium or Firm. With those of you with truly sensitive teeth sticking to soft please.
3. Hold the toothbrush a bit like a pen, or a wand, if they were real of course… This enables you to manoeuvre the toothbrush with greater ease than if you were hold it in your fist.
4. Make sure you brush for at least 2 minutes, twice a day. Use a timer if required.
5. Make sure you are brushing each section of your mouth evenly, giving each section your attention.
6. Focus on the gum line, our gums need brushing too and should be a lovely pink colour.
7. Don’t forget about the inside of your teeth, the chewing part of your teeth or the teeth right at the back. Using the toothbrush like a pen or wand will help with this action.
8. Replace your toothbrush at least every three months and get a new brush after you’ve been ill or have a cold.
9. Remember to clean your brush after each use. With our brushes a quick rise should suffice, make sure you leave them to dry and not collect mould from a damp jar.
10. Follow up flossing and tongue cleaning or best practice, do this before brushing.

Electric toothbrushing

1. Make sure you use the right setting for your teeth and requirements. In each of our settings you can hold the button down for a soft, medium or firm motion.
2. Don’t push the bristle into your teeth or gums, you should just ‘sweep’ them with the top of the bristles.
3. Your do not need to move back and forth as you do with a manual. Slow moving around your mouth is required. Let the electrical brush do the work.
4. Hold the brush softly, again much like a pen or wand if you can. This will allow you to clean all teeth with greater ease and motion.
5. Use the timer correctly, moving to each quarter of the mouth every 30 seconds as the motor tells you to. Each tooth should get a thorough clean.
6. Replace your brush heads every three months at least and change them if you’ve been ill or have a cold.
7. Make sure you rinse the brush head out thoroughly after each use and leave out to dry.
8. The brush head can stay attached to the handle, however, make sure you give the pin that attaches to the brush head a clean every now and then as well as wiping the handle of the brush down regularly.
9. Brush for the full 2 minutes – the timer will stop the brush after this time.
10. Follow up flossing and tongue cleaning or best practice, do this before brushing.

Dental care is health care team, lets make sure we look after our teeth – gone are the days were we should be having dentures in our old age 🙂

Any questions or comments please do let us know.