How many times should you brush your teeth?

Twice a day, every day. That is the whole answer, and how you brush matters a great deal more than which toothbrush you own.

When to brush

Last thing at night, and again in the morning.

The night-time brush is the one to protect. Anything left on your teeth stays there through the seven or eight hours you are asleep, when saliva flow drops and the mouth is least able to look after itself.

For the morning, either before breakfast or a little while after it both work. If breakfast was acidic, fruit juice, citrus or anything fizzy, wait around half an hour before brushing, because enamel is briefly softened after acid and brushing it straight away wears it.

Technique matters more than the brush

Plenty of people with expensive electric brushes still have unhealthy gums, because the brush was never the limiting factor. Manual or electric, the same things matter:

• Angle the bristles at roughly 45 degrees towards the gum line, so you clean the gum and the tooth at the same time.
• Use small circular movements. Avoid hard back and forth scrubbing, which over the years can wear the tooth at the gum line and contribute to recession.
• Cover the outer, inner and biting surfaces of every tooth.
• Start in the same place each time and work around the mouth in the same order, so you are not relying on memory to work out what you have missed.

Give it about two minutes. If you use a manual brush, medium bristles suit most people unless your dentist or hygienist has advised soft or hard for a particular reason. If you are unsure, bring your brush to your next appointment and we will watch you use it.

Do not skip the wisdom teeth

If your wisdom teeth are through, they need brushing like any other tooth. They sit awkwardly far back, and half closing your mouth relaxes the cheek and lets the brush reach further. Decay or gum inflammation around a wisdom tooth is uncomfortable and harder to treat than it would have been to prevent.

Toothpaste and fluoride

As a general rule, adults and children who have their adult teeth should use a toothpaste containing 1,450ppm fluoride. For children under six, around 1,000ppm is usual. These are general figures, and if your child needs something different we will say so at their check-up.

Brushing is only half the job

A toothbrush cannot reach the surfaces between your teeth, and that is where decay and gum disease most often begin. Cleaning between the teeth once a day, with interdental brushes or floss, covers the part brushing misses.

If you would like someone to look at how you are cleaning and suggest what would work better for your mouth, book a new patient examination or get in touch.