After all this time, you must think that you have mastered the act of brushing your teeth. But you know what? You have been doing it all wrong!
Brushing in circles is for jerking and brushing back and forth is to say for toddlers. The best way in which you should brush your teeth is called the Modified Bass technique. This may sound to you like an EMD song, and not like a plaque fighter, but it is truly the optimal way of teeth brushing.
Carole Palmer, a professor of public health in community service at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, confirms that you have been brushing your teeth wrong, and she also has some news: the most of the people make very simple mistakes, but they do not know that these mistakes can cause a serious damage to their teeth.
Are you one of these people? First, take this quiz and found it out, and then, if you do it wrong, you can start brushing them the right way, starting from tonight.
1. True or False? The harder the toothbrush bristles, the better.
The answer is: FALSE. The best bristles for your teeth and gums are the soft ones.
According to Palmer, you should choose a soft nylon-bristle brush. Too hard bristles can irritate your gums and can cause erosion of your teeth enamel. Your optimal toothbrush should also be multi-tufted. This means that it should have as many bristles as possible, which will get between your teeth and around your gums finer.
2. True or False? The goal of brushing after eating is to remove food particles from your teeth.
The answer is: FALSE. The most important thing is to remove the plaque.
Despite the popular belief, brushing your teeth is crucial because you need to remove the plaque. According to Palmer, this is quite more important than removing the food debris. The plaque need some time to be formed, so this means that the brushing of the teeth does not necessarily have to be done right after meals, although it can prevent staining from foods such as coffee or berries. However, Palmer’s advice is to brush your teeth twice a day in order to prevent cavities.
3. True or False? Jiggling the brush up and down is the most effective brushing method.
The answer is: TRUE. The best way of teeth brushing is jiggling the brush up and down.
According to Palmer, it is optimal if you hold the brush down against the gum line at an angle of 45 degrees. Then, you should jiggle it in that spot for ten seconds, approximately, and then move to the next area. When you have brushed along the total area of your gums, clean the surfaces of your teeth using the same motion, and this time hold your brush at an angle of ninety degrees. At the end, scrap your brush against your tongue in a downward motion so that you eliminate the bacteria accumulated there.
4. True or False? It is best to floss after brushing.
The answer is: FALSE. If you floss first, you will remove more plaque than in the reversed order.
With the help of flossing, the floss is getting down into the gum line and that is why after this process you can remove more plaque that otherwise your brush cannot reach. This is why it is more logically to floss first, and then brush. The optimal order is to loosen the plaque and then brush it away. If you are using mouthwash, this process comes at the end.
5. True or False? If you cannot see plaque on your teeth, it means you removed it all.
The answer is: FALSE. There might be a lot of plaque on your teeth, ready to do damage.
Palmer explains that the plaque is clear and does not have any color. She says that probably at the moment you have a lot of plaque; it is just unbelievable because you do not see it yourself. Next time you visit your dentist, ask them for a few extra pink tablets. These are the tablets that can reveal on which places you have dental plaque, Palmer claims. Next thing you should do is, when you go home, chew them up from time to time and thus discover the spots where the plaque is accumulated, the places you have missed.
