Common Mistakes When Brushing Your Teeth
Tooth brushing is a seemingly very simple activity that we perform several times a day. Often mechanically, in a hurry, not caring whether we clean our teeth effectively or not. After all, who in today’s busy world would have time to pay attention to details, right? Meanwhile, improper tooth brushing leads to tooth decay, gum inflammation, and many other dangerous diseases. Several mistakes in daily oral care are repeated repeatedly. Get to know them better, so you don’t make them again!
How do I know if I brush my teeth properly?
It often happens that patients who have been diagnosed with tooth decay say to the dentist: “how is it possible, after all, I brush my teeth every day”. However, the fact of brushing teeth twice a day is not a guarantee of keeping the oral cavity healthy. It is necessary to brush your teeth conscientiously, in accordance with the principles recommended by specialists. Not to mention that brushing should be accompanied by the removal of residues from hard-to-reach places with the use of dental floss or irrigator as well as tongue care.
Usually, patients discover that they are not taking good care of their oral cavity only when a problem occurs: the aforementioned tooth decay, gum inflammation, bad breath, etc. Meanwhile, there are ways to check the quality of your tooth brushing in advance.
One of them is to invest in plaque staining tablets – such products clearly show us where harmful bacteria are still present despite having brushed our mouth. Another method is the so-called “tongue test”. In short, it involves brushing your teeth until you feel them clean and slippery when you run your tongue over them.
The most common mistakes while brushing your teeth
However, it is best to avoid any mistakes while brushing your teeth. For this to be possible, of course, you need to be aware of which things we do wrong during daily oral care. Here is a list of the most common improper behaviors associated with daily oral hygiene.
1. Not brushing your teeth properly
By this we mean both brushing your teeth too briefly, carelessly, and incompetently. These are the three most common sins we commit. They usually result from haste – instead of focusing on thorough brushing with the proper technique, we already think about the challenges that await us during the next day. As a result, we don’t brush for the recommended three minutes, but for one and a half, and we make all the moves on the fly.
If you have a problem with brushing your teeth for an appropriate amount of time, it may be a good idea to set a stopwatch for the brushing time. If you’re having trouble brushing for the right amount of time, it may be a good idea to set a stopwatch. You can also ask your dentist about proper brushing technique, as they’ll be happy to give you instructions. You can also invest in a Smilesonic toothbrush, which has a timer that automatically tells you the correct time to brush your teeth and cleans them automatically, without you needing to know how to do it.
2. Brushing with the wrong toothbrush
What is the “wrong” toothbrush? We’d like to explain. By this we mean a toothbrush that is no longer suitable for use (because, for example, its bristles are bent, damaged, etc.) or is the wrong toothbrush for your particular needs. For people who have sensitive teeth and gums, for example, only toothbrushes with soft bristles are recommended. Toothbrushes with hard bristle should only be used by healthy people who would like to brighten the enamel color by brushing every day (get rid of the discoloration that occurs on teeth due to, for example, frequent coffee and tea drinking or smoking).
3. Wrong toothpaste
Just like a toothbrush, toothpaste should be selected according to the individual needs of the user. Different toothpaste will be suitable for people who want to lighten their teeth (in this case you should choose a whitening toothpaste), different for those who often suffer from caries (these users should especially pay attention to remineralising toothpastes) and yet another for braces users (in this case you should look for a toothpaste with additional foaming substances in its composition). Incompetent choice of toothpaste results in decrease of quality and comfort of our cleaning.
4. Neglecting interdental and tongue care
This is another nightmare. Unfortunately, very few of us think during daily oral care about removing bacteria from the most inaccessible places and cleaning the tongue from bacteria. Meanwhile, it is in the tangent areas of the teeth, which cannot be reached by a toothbrush, that most bacteria leading to the formation of caries accumulate. The tongue, on the other hand, is where most of the germs responsible for bad breath are formed. So get yourself some dental floss, a mouth irrigator, and a tongue scraper today!
5. Not cleaning the toothbrush of toothpaste residue
After every time you brush your teeth, you should rinse the bristles of your toothbrush under running water and clean the toothpaste residue from the handle. Unfortunately, many of us do not do this. Meanwhile, bacteria remaining on the bristles may lead to the formation of many dangerous diseases in the oral cavity. It is also important to remember about hygienic storage of your toothbrush: it should not be kept loose in the bathroom. It is best to store it in a closed cabinet or drawer.
6. Brushing teeth immediately after a meal
The last of the very common mistakes made during daily oral care is brushing teeth right after a meal. Dentists advise against such practices because immediately after eating any product, our oral cavity is still 20-30 minutes filled with acids that disturb the pH level of the oral cavity. So, before you brush your teeth you should wait about two quarters of an hour for the pH to equalize.
