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Like everything else in life, I’ve come across a whole load of opinions on the best was to brush your teeth
I’ve heard people say you should brush your teeth straight after eating to stop any sugars and decay forming, I’ve also heard people say eating softens your enamel for about 40 minutes and so you should brush just before eating instead (or wait the 40 minutes)
I’ve heard people say you should always mouthwash after brushing. I’ve also heard people say mouthwash will wash away any fluoride left from the toothpaste and so you definitely shouldn’t do this
I’ve heard people say you should floss every night (and morning?). I’ve also heard people say flossing can damage your gums and so you should only do it occasionally or as required
I quite like my teeth and see them as an important asset so obviously would quite like to look after them - SO, what’s your preferred tooth brush techers?
Personally I brush at least twice a day. Usually first thing in the morning, will maybe have had a glass of water by then, and last thing at night. Sometimes I’ll brush a third time if I’m going out in the evening etc
Usually mouthwash after brushing my teeth but rarely floss (maybe 2 or 3 times a month?)
Dentist seems pretty happy with my teeth but usually recommends a scale and polish whenever I’m there
My dentist says:
>brush regularly with an electric toothbrush.
>Use any toothpaste, it doesn't really matter which
>Use fluoride mouthrinse, not mouthwash
>Floss regularly
Soak overnight and reinsert in the morning 😬
Good quality Black Country pork scratchings- the salt will be abrasive and clean the surface of your teeth while the hairs act as floss. 🐷
Very basically....
Brush twice a day for two minutes........
no need to do more times than that really, most people do a better job with an electric brush. Don’t be too heavy handed, you can damage the gums by brushing too hard ( the stuff you are brushing off has the consistency of Philadelphia cheese so doesn’t need vigorous scrubbing to remove.
Use a toothpaste with Fluoride in.........
Most have. The actual type of toothpaste makes only very small differences despite the adverts unless you have sensitive teeth and use a sensitive toothpaste to help.
Spit don’t rinse after
Before / after food is only important if your meal has something acidic in it ( like a fruit juice) this would soften the top layer of enamel and could lead to wearing tooth away over the years
Clean inbetween each tooth every day........
Your brush won’t clean everywhere so you must use floss or little interdental brushes once a day every day between each tooth to clean out these area that your toothbrush doesn’t reach but that the nasty bugs can.
Bad flossing technique can cause damage, good flossing technique is only gonna result in good things.
Mouthwashes have a limited anti decay effect but keep your breath fresh and if they have Fluoride in will help a little. It’s kind of a personal preference thing.
Brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste (is there really non-fluoride these days?) has worked for me for 50 years, still not a filling. Don't think the extra fuss of floss etc could have improved greatly on that!
Brush twice a day with an electric toothbrush.
Interdental brushing in the morning, floss at night.
I've been very unlucky with my teeth, bad genes and being a child of the 1960's and 70's, where the dentist was pulling out and filling children's teeth for money and not because they always needed this treatment.
Look after your teeth (and gums) people, as there is only one set and it's an awful lot of money for any procedure nowadays.
It's very important to brush the gumline, and clean between the teeth. If it bleeds when you brush, brush that area a bit more every time until it stops. They say "long in the tooth" meaning old, what happens is that any gum disease/infection at the gumline causes the gum to recede, so the tooth sticks out further. That exposes the root. It's worth seeing a dental hygienist as well as a dentist.
I recently heard a quote from a Professor of Dentistry, asked what he would ideally like to improve people's dental health, he said "make gum disease painful". The point being that as it isn't painful, people ignore it.
Those water flossers are good if you can't be arsed with using dental floss and they leave a nicer clean-mouth feeling afterwards.
e.g. https://www.waterpik.co.uk/shop-products/water-flossers
Tooth health is mainly affected by diet. And the main culprit there is white sugar.
I have no fillings. I brush once a day (before bed) and floss about once a week, and only started that later in life. Never used a mouth wash and never used an electric tooth brush.
Braun electric toothbrush with 30# second reminder (for each quarter) followed by teepee sticks instead of floss which I found to be a revolution. I brush once per day with a quality toothpaste (normally sensodyne pronamel). I then occasionally use the most expensive polishing toothpaste with higher concentration of H2O2 to remove tea stains. I don’t use mouthwash, concentration will be too low to do anything.
However, ultimately it comes down to genetics. If you start with huge teeth with granite for enamel, life is somewhat easier. If you don’t, then care regimen will likely make more of a difference. I didn’t see a dentist for ten years and had my one and only filling at 43. It was replaced in lockdown with a white one - hence the ten years. I have had two scale and polishes since but just got another clean bill of health for two years.
#The 30 second reminder is useful, there is a pressure warning too to prevent gum damage, again, useful feedback. The Bluetooth connection to look at my score and daily activity didn’t survive the first week 🤣
I've only very recently started using an electric toothbrush (Morrisons currently have a £60 Braun jobbie for £30 - who knows if it ever was £60), but anyway - my teeth have never felt so smooth an clean
my dentist says to use an electric toothbrush, purely because many people push too hard with a manual one. Some of the fancier ones have an alert if you do that or scrub. Looks like the latest Oral-B ones even tell you if you've missed out any of your teeth, although they are £££!
Other than that my dentist is just happy if I floss or use interdental brushes (which is my preference). Never mentioned mouthwash!