Essential Guide on Effective TOOTH BRUSHING

As Ipswich Dentists at Grange Road Dental Group, one of our main aims is the prevention of dental problems for our patients. To help achieve this, we educate our patients on on effective tooth brushing tips to ensure the mouth environment is in a healthy state.

We have prepared a tooth brushing guide below that explains three things.

1. Firstly, why you need to brush your teeth.
2. Secondly, how often you should brush.
3. And finally, important tips on how to brush your teeth properly.

So lets begin…

1. Why do you need to brush your teeth?

The main purpose of brushing our teeth is to remove dental plaque. Dental Plaque is the colourless, soft sticky layer that builds up naturally on our teeth.

Plaque is produced by the bad bacteria in our mouth. The reason why bacteria produces plaque, is to protect themselves. By doing so the bad bacteria can grow and multiply. If plaque is not cleaned off properly, the bad bacteria within the plaque will cause dental problems. These problems can include dental decay, gum disease and bad breath.

By brushing your teeth properly, it will keep the levels of plaque to a minimum. As a result, you will be able to prevent dental problems occurring in the first place, or from becoming worse.

It is important to mention here that many of our patients think that we brush our teeth to remove food that builds up around our teeth. When in fact, the most important reason is to remove the plaque build-up from our teeth. And in doing so, any remaining food stuck around our teeth will also be cleaned away.

2. How often should you brush?

The Dentists at Grange Road Dental Group recommend to brush your teeth twice a day.

The main reason to brush twice a day is to ensure that you have removed as much of the plaque as possible throughout the day. Plaque will build up within four to twelve hours after brushing. We therefore want to prevent the plaque (and the bacteria within) from continuing to build-up to more dangerous levels.

3. How to brush your teeth properly

Grange Road Dental Group Top Tooth Brushing Tips

Before we begin this section there are two important facts to be aware of:

Firstly, plaque has a colourless appearance. Thus, it tries to outsmart us by camouflaging itself against the white appearance of our teeth.

Secondly, plaque builds ups on the tooth surfaces where we often do not clean at all because of improper technique, that is:

a) On the tooth surfaces near where the gums meet the teeth, and
b) Between the teeth, where tooth brush bristles cannot reach.

With the above facts in mind, we have compiled a list of Top Tooth Brushing Tips:

• Brush twice a day, for at least 2 minutes each time
• Use a manual or rechargeable electric tooth brush with soft (or extra soft) bristles and with a small head. We have an excellent variety in stock for you to view and buy. A soft bristle is all that is necessary to remove the soft plaque. Any stiffer is not necessary. In fact, you can be at risk of damaging your teeth and gums by using a stiffer/harder variety of tooth brush. A small head is important to clean the difficult to reach areas.
• Angle the tooth brush at 45 degrees, towards the level of where the gums meet the teeth. You are aiming to brush your teeth at this gum level and give you gums a gentle massage at the same time.
• If using a Manual Tooth Brush, use a gentle jiggling and small circular brushing motion. Do Not Scrub.
  In contrast, a rechargeable Electric Tooth Brush provides the cleaning action for you and all you need to do is guide it along all of the teeth surfaces.
• Brush all surfaces of the teeth.
  Start with the outside surfaces, concentrating on one tooth surface at a time for about 5 seconds and remember to angle the brush so that you’re brushing at the gum level (that is, massaging the gums and brushing gum line of the the teeth at the same time).
  Remember, DO NOT PRESS TO HARD OR SCRUB.
  Then brush then inside surfaces of the teeth, and finally
  brush the chewing surfaces of the teeth.
• In difficult to reach areas, such as behind the back of upper molars, it is important to close your jaws half way. This allows more room for a small headed toothbrush to access behind this critical, and often forgotten, area to brush.

And don’t forget…

You MUST floss, in conjunction with tooth brushing!

As already mentioned, tooth brush bristles cannot reach between your teeth… no matter what the television ads will try and convince you.
Flossing, or the use of inter-dental brushes, is the only way to clean the tooth root surfaces between your teeth. Please see our upcoming post on Grange Road Dental Group Flossing Tips for more information.

We will also soon be making a Grange Road Dental Group Tooth Brushing AND Flossing Video for you to see our Top Tooth Brushing Tips in action.

If you have any specific questions, please call us or make a consultation with one of our friendly and gentle Ipswich Dentists. We are happy to demonstrate this technique for you at one of your visits.

Also please share this page with anyone you think may benefit from this article on tooth brushing.

Article by: Dr Andrew Zischke and Dr Jelena Vlacic- Zischke, Principle Dentists at Grange Road Dental Group.

To Arrange a Dental Examination visit…

Are you looking for a Professional and Gentle Ipswich Children’s Dentist?
If so, contact Grange Road Dental Group to arrange a dental examination and consultation.

At Grange Road Dental Group we are very happy to welcome new patients to our dental practice.

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