Although many people are aware of the beneficial gum health effects of dental biofilm (plaque) removal by the toothbrush, many still continue to not prioritize or fully understand the significance and impact of brushing and flossing their teeth regularly and thoroughly, paired with routine visits to a dentist for preventive check-ups and professional cleanings.
Neglecting your daily oral hygiene routine at home, such as not brushing your teeth at least twice a day (morning and night after meals) or regularly is almost inevitably going to lead to plaque build-up on your teeth. If you fail to eliminate the soft oral biofilm and trapped food from in between your teeth and from below the gum line by routine brushing and flossing, you can significantly increase the risk of permanent damage to your teeth, gums, and overall health.
Over time, the accumulation of bacterial plaque associated with poor hygiene may result in some unfavorable dental health consequences, such as cavities (caries), gingivitis (inflammation of the gingiva), bone loss around the teeth (periodontitis) and bad breath, which in turn can ruin the quality of your life for years to come. The best way to avoid these harmful effects is to prevent, manage, and control the build-up of biofilm.
The very first (and most significant) step that you must take before any other towards enhancing your oral health and ensuring your general well-being is to visit a qualified dental professional that you can trust. It is imperative that the stubborn dental biofilm (plaque) and the formed dental calculus (commonly known as tartar) and stain from your tooth surfaces are completely removed prior, and you have squeaky-clean teeth, as otherwise your tooth-brushing will be ineffective. When choosing your dentist, you should look for someone who meets your needs.
By maintaining optimal dental hygiene (such as regular brushing, and flossing) and through other preventive measures, you can greatly impact how long your set of natural teeth will stay healthy and strong. In many cases, practicing proper and rigorous daily teeth-cleaning hygiene routines will help you prevent yourself from experiencing serious dental problems or discomfort from occurring, which in turn can help protect your teeth and avoid costly and time-consuming dental care treatments in the future! It is crucial to understand and remember that —good oral hygiene leads to less dental biofilm (plaque) and less gingivitis!
Yeah, building your dental hygiene regimen and sticking to it daily will benefit you not only the health of your teeth themselves, but also the gums and the rest of your remote organs of your body, and your general health as a whole.
As you probably well known, the toothbrush along with extra oral hygiene aids such as dental floss, and interdental brushes, remains the primary and most effective preventative strategy in-home care for dental biofilm (plaque) removal and control of the teeth.
There is no doubt that to achieve the best possible and effective level of oral hygiene (plaque control) for your teeth and gums, a proper selection of the appropriate oral health care products (the type of toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, interdental brushes, gels, mouthwashes, etc.) and their effective use is of paramount importance to your oral hygiene success. Product quality has a direct impact on the effectiveness and results that you will attain in improving your oral health.
With a myriad of innovative oral care hygiene products offerings from various brands emerging on the market these days, determining which are actually quality, safe, and effective to use can be both a time-consuming and really protracted task, especially if you do not know how to narrow down your search or what criteria to look for when making a decision.
A very common dilemma faced by some people is deciding on the type of toothbrush to opt for – an ordinary handbrush or a power-driven one. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages of their own. When deciding between what type of toothbrush to use (a hand brush or an electric-powered brush), consider the brush that would work best for you.
Generally, the choice between the two kinds of brushes is not of great concern, because regardless of whether you decide to purchase and use the world’s most expensive and the most effective toothbrush along with toothpaste, as part of your routine personal grooming, if you do not implement proper (effective) tooth cleaning technique with it, the end cleaning result (the effect) of your action will remain relatively the same. Therefore, the selection of an optimal toothbrush is largely a matter of your personal preference, affordability, and professional recommendation.
Although most electric-powered toothbrush manufacturers claim that use of their toothbrushes enhance tooth cleaning performance in certain aspects, that’s not necessarily always the case. The truth is that in practice there is no significant difference between the conventional-manual toothbrush and the powered one. Because the toothbrush’s bristles alone will not adequately remove the dental biofilm (plaque) and the food debris sheltered in the inaccessible areas, such as the interdental and subgingival spaces of the teeth. There is not yet persuasive evidence that supports the claim that these modern devices yield more effective outcomes in removing plaque from between the proximal surfaces of the teeth.
There is no single toothbrush bristle tips design (even the most expensive and the very best automatic brush) that we have at present that is sufficiently capable of accessing and completely removing the food particles and plaque in the difficult-to-clean cleft spaces of your teeth (eg, between your teeth, fissure and gingival sulcus or gingival pockets) at 100 %. Therefore, to achieve a complete biofilm removal in these dental niches, you must ensure cleaning of the interdental spaces too. The most certain and reliable way to accomplish this is by using supplemental means, such as dental floss, toothpicks, and interdental brushes.
In oral hygiene care, the variety in the choice of toothbrushes today is enormous, but how often do you consider the toothbrush’s design characteristics and the impact of these on your oral hygiene success?
What are the primary characteristics that you should pay attention to to choose the best manual toothbrush possible for your everyday oral hygiene and grooming needs?
Although brushing frequency, duration, and technique rank among the most dominant factors in effective plaque removal, the quality of the brush you use also matters a lot for the effectiveness of eliminating the build-up dental biofilm (plaque) from your teeth. Beyond the ADA seal of approval, there are a few key criteria that should influence your selection of the toothbrush.
Tooth Sensitivity: depending on the current state of your teeth, mouth, and gums, the dentist will recommend you the appropriate bristle type and degree of filament stiffness for your specific situation (e.g. soft, ultra-soft, or medium) – the length and diameter of the bristle filaments determine the brush stiffness.
The type of the bristles: (e.g. tapered-end, round-end) is another key element to look for in an ideal toothbrush. The shape of the filament ends (tips) also plays a direct role in the brush’s ability to remove plaque from your teeth. A soft–medium strength toothbrush with rounded bristle tips at the ends is generally the most preferable and safest type of choice. The best that your toothbrush must have to offer you, apart from its ability to adequately and effectively eliminate plaque from your teeth, is to prevent any damage or injury to your gums or teeth.
Additionally, from the standpoint of plaque removal, you will generally achieve a more thorough and effective cleaning on the “front,” “back,” and “top” surfaces of your teeth by brushing with end-rounded bristles. The tapered-tip bristle filaments for example on the other hand are much thinner, more flexible, and reach farther, which makes them a lot more effective and better able to remove your biofilm (plaque) stuck in between your teeth, and in boundary spaces between teeth and gums.
The dimensions (width and length) of the brush head: despite the design of the brush head is a matter of personal choice, it is as important as the choice of the brush itself. A brush with a smaller head size (length of ~25mm) is very helpful because the toothbrush bristle filaments will have better (more complete) access to all of your tooth surfaces and other marginal hard-to-reach spots for cleaning.
The handle design – position of the brush head and neck to the handle: the geometry of the easiest-to-manipulate handle is considered to be of straight shape made of non-slip material. But given that there is no “best” size/shape and position of the brush head and neck to the handle – and that there is no solid evidence to determine the superiority of any one geometry over another. That is, the handle design of the brush you select is (should be) entirely a matter of your own choice and preference.
Other factors that should influence your choice of toothbrush include the bristle material; number and arrangement of bristle tufts (e.g. parallel vs. crossed); bristle density (total number of filaments in the brush head) – generally, a brush with thinner and less densely packed bristle filaments field can better clean the biofilm in the hard-to-reach places: interdental spaces, fissures, and the gingival sulcus.
Price: It has the biggest influence, but the price should probably be the very last factor by which you should determine the choice of your toothbrush. Yeah, the choice of a certain toothbrush should never be based solely on its price. Price is only important after all the other qualities are met. Buying the cheapest alternative can cause you to harm your teeth, and that could end up costing you much more in the long run! The truth is that low price and low quality tend to go hand in hand.
Look at purchasing your toothbrush as a small investment in your overall health and general well-being that ultimately pays off.
Regardless of whether you brush your teeth diligently and regularly, or stick to the minimum requirements, selecting and using the appropriate set of means for your day-to-day oral hygiene routine may help you dramatically to improve the health of your teeth and gums. If you follow all these six-point classic recommendations for manual toothbrush selection which I have laid out above, you will discover the ideal type of toothbrush for your regular dental care regimen that is best suited for you and your case.