5 Best tips on how to choose a toothbrush

Toothbrushing is essential to maintain the health of our teeth. Often, this involves a toothbrush and a toothpaste, with a variety of toothbrushes and toothpastes available for us to pick from.

Here are the top 5 questions we often get from our patients:

1. Manual or electric/battery powered?

Both are very good options (equally efficient) as long as you brush your teeth for the right amount of time. Manual toothbrushing usually takes longer and there is no timer to tell you when to finish. On the other hand, the electric toothbrushes has been proven to remove more plaque.

So... you should use an electric toothbrush if:

• a. you have misaligned teeth, braces, arthritis
• b. if your dentist told you you need to brush more or you have a gum disease
• c. or if you lack the skills or insufficient mobility to use a manual toothbrush efficiently.

Also, if you like to brush teeth too vigorously an electric toothbrush is helpful as there is no risk to exceed the time or the pressure applied on the teeth.

2. Soft or hard bristles?

Your first choice should be a soft toothbrush. oft manual toothbrushes as well as soft head for electric toothbrushes are available. They will protect well the gums and enamel, and are very efficient in removing plaque. Hard toothbrushes are good too but used too vigorously could cause gum receding and enamel erosions, resulting in oversensitive teeth to cold or hot and an unpleasant aesthetic aspect of long teeth due to the gum receding.

A good quality genuine toothbrush will always have the bristles with rounded tips.

3. Does size matter?

The size of the toothbrush should fit the size of your mouth. A good size toothbrush should be ½” wide and 1” long and you should be able to brush two teeth at once.

Small-headed brushes could reach better back teeth. These are difficult to reach areas and a reasonable long handle could contribute to the efficient brushing of the sides and backs of the molars.

Your dentist could determine that you need a special toothbrush with patterned or tapered bristles.

4. How often do I need to replace my toothbrush?

The simple answer is: when it looks worn. Most of the toothbrushes have an indicator telling you when it's the right time to do it.

As a general rule, replace the toothbrush or the head every three months.

5. What should my child use?

If your child is reluctant to brush their teeth or does it partially, an attractive coloured, electric toothbrush will always be fun to use. Get them to pick their next toothbrush from the shelf and they will feel more vested to use it.

But, at the end of the day, it is much more important to use a toothbrush, starting with... the toothbrush that you have.