Brushing Teeth

Most dentists agree that you should try to brush your teeth for about two minutes at least twice a day. Many people don't even come close to brushing for the right amount of time so a common aid is to use a stopwatch which will help you get a feel for the correct brushing times. You should always use gentle and short strokes as being overzealous can lead to a number of dental problems. Pay particular attention to the back of your teeth which are often hard to reach, the gumline and especially around crowns, fillings other other types of dental restorations. There's four main stages to brushing; on the upper teeth cleaning the outer surfaces then the same on the bottom teeth and cleaning the inner surfaces of the upper teeth and the same again with the bottom. Next you'll need to carefully clean the chewing surfaces of teeth and it's also reccommended you brush your tongue for about 30 seconds to combat halitosis (bad breath).

Flossing

Brushing and flossing regularly ensures that you'll keep your teeth and gums healthy and protects you from gum disease and tooth decay. The reason that we brush and floss our teeth is to reduce the number of bacteria which live in our mouths. There's literally millions of bacteria inhabiting every part of your mouth and feeding on the remainders of food debris left on your teeth. As they feed these bacteria produce an acid as a byproduct and this acid attacks tooth enamel which in turn creates cavitites.

Types of Toothbrush

Conventional Brush - A simple plastic design with a rectangle of bristles

Diamond Shape - The tips of diamond shaped toothbrush heads tend to be much narrower than their conventional counterparts. Their tips are specially designed to allow greater access to the hard to reach back teeth.

V-shape Pattern - The bristles on this brush form a wave or V-shape which is designed to allow better contact with your teeth.

Angled handle - This type of handle is geared towards helping you reach those difficult spots at the back of your mouth.

Flexible handle - The flexible handle is specially designed to minimise gum injury occurring due to overzealous brushing.

Superbrush - This type of brush combines three brush heads to enable cleaning of the inner, outer and chewing surfaces all at once. It's great for those with limited manual dexterity and works best with well aligned teeth.

Chewable Brush - This sort of brush is a miniature plastic toothbrush which is moulded so that it can be used when there's no water available. These small brushes come in several different flavours and are completely disposable.

Electric toothbrush - An electric toothbrush is a fairly recent development in dental equipment which uses electric power to move the head of the brush. Most electric toothbrushes do this in an oscillating pattern (which is a system of repetitive variations). Electric toothbrushes are also known as 'rotary' toothbrushes. Electric toothbrushes were for a long time believed to be superior to manual brushing by leaving the user less room to brush incorrectly. However recent studies into the effectiveness of electric toothbrushes have found that the majority of models on the market are no more effective than brushing manually.