Oral Hygiene – Toothbrush

Toothbrush

- The toothbrush should always be soft or medium, with a relatively small head and flat bristles.
- An electric toothbrush can be used. The head may be round or oval and ideally with soft bristles.
- Brushing is mandatory in the morning - evening, regardless whether we have eaten or not.

TECHNIQUE
- In order not to forget any tooth, start brushing either from one edge towards the other or from the middle towards the edge and then middle again towards the other edge.
– Do the same for both the outer and the inner surfaces of the teeth.
– Place the toothbrush at 45 degrees angle toward the gum line, so as half of the bristles are on teeth and half are on gum. Brush with a short back and forth motion, counting from one to ten. After ten strokes, roll the toothbrush along the teeth. At most 2-3 teeth are cleaned each time. Then continue with the next 2-3 teeth.
– As far as the inner surfaces of the front teeth, the brush is now oriented vertically and the teeth should be cleaned one by one. Same thing for the inner surfaces of the front lower teeth.
– At last brush the chewing surfaces.
– In most people the above technique is the advised technique for brushing. If you have multiple gum recessions and teeth with abrasion, ask your dentist if this is the most suitable way of brushing for you.
- The electric toothbrush sometimes has sometimes a different way of use. When using an electric toothbrush with a round head we come into contact with the gums with the tip of the bristles and we work every tooth separately. We always recommend an electric toothbrush to people with mobility difficulties but even in cases of ordinary patients the electric toothbrush may outweigh the manual toothbrush. The electric toothbrush with the oval head has a similar way of use with the manual toothbrush: we place the electric head on the gums and teeth in a similar way that we would place the manual toothbrush but we let it do the vibration itself and we do not press more.

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