When you come in for your hygiene visit, the big question that I ask is if you're using an electric toothbrush. Many times the answer I get is, “No, I'm not.” I think sometimes we're attached to that feeling of scrubbing our teeth, and we feel like we're doing a better job with the manual toothbrush.
Sometimes people are using a hard or medium tooth brush, because that gives you the feeling of your teeth being clean. However, the hard and the medium bristles can really cause trauma to the gums, especially if the gums are irritated or inflamed. Harder bristles can also cause gum recession at times.
What Kind of Toothbrush is Best?
I think in this day and age, with our technology, an electric toothbrush is the best thing. And what you're doing with electric toothbrushes is using ultrasonic vibration for a much better cleaning. It loosens plaque and food debris off the teeth and washes it off. So, it's way more effective.
Electronic toothbrushes generally have a timer built into the toothbrush, which is two minutes. My recommendation is to brush your teeth for four to six minutes or establish a routine where you're starting with one side of the mouth, going to the other and moving back and forth, and it might take you six minutes or longer. The length of brushing time also depends on whether you have braces, or if you have a lot of dental work or a lot of spaces between your teeth, so it might take you a bit longer to do the job right.
Your Next Hygiene Visit
If there's any confusion or if you have questions, feel free to bring your electric toothbrush to your hygiene visits. It may sound weird, but I'm more than happy to spend some time and go over the technique with you. And I love to do that with young adults or children, because the better habits that we established now at a young age carry through during their teenage years and adult life.
~ Dr. Kiran Rapal