Brushing teeth is important for our dental care. So when it comes time to brush teeth, surely we’re not making any toothbrush mistakes. Here are some common toothbrush mistakes people will make.
Not replacing an old brush. You should replace your toothbrush every three to four months for dental health, but many people let it go way beyond this point. When the bristles become splayed out, they cannot properly clean the various surfaces of your teeth.In addition, many of the power brushes lose cleaning power as the brush head ages.
Using the wrong style of brush. Some people still like medium or hard toothbrushes, but soft, round-ended bristles are the way to go.When the plaque is soft, it will come off with a soft brush. Once it hardens into tartar or calculus, it won’t come off with brushing no matter how hard the brush, but you can damage the delicate gum tissue by using those types of brushes.
Brushing back and forth. Often, the brushing mistake has to do with brushing technique itself. You should brush in a circular motion, angling the bristles of the brush at a 45-degree angle to the gumline and focus on a couple teeth at a time.This enables you to clean under the gums, where most plaque is present and causes the most harm. This also helps avoid over-brushing.
Using too much toothpaste. The flip side of the previous tip is that most of us slather way more toothpaste onto our toothbrush than we actually need. We just need a pea-sized amount for most toothpastes. The rest is wasted.
Not brushing long enough. This is a big problem. Most people, when asked how long they brush, typically say about one to two minutes, when in reality they typically brush for only 30 seconds. It is important to access all the areas of the mouth and all surfaces of the teeth to effectively clean the tooth surfaces of bacteria and food, and to coat each tooth surface with the cleansing toothpaste.
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