Saturday, July 14, 2012

Tips for Brushing Your Teeth Properly

Dentists say that the minimum time you should spend brushing your teeth is 2 minutes twice a day.
Here are some tips on how to brush your teeth properly:

  • Hold your brush at a 45-degree angle against your gumline. Gently brush from where the tooth and gum meet to the chewing surface in short (about half-a-tooth-wide) strokes. Brushing too hard can cause receding gums, tooth sensitivity, and, over time, loose teeth.
  • Use the same method to brush all outside and inside surfaces of your teeth.
  • To clean the chewing surfaces of your teeth, use short sweeping strokes, tipping the bristles into the pits and crevices.
  • To clean the inside surfaces of your top and bottom front teeth and gums, hold the brush almost vertical. With back and forth motions, bring the front part of the brush over the teeth and gums.
  • Using a forward-sweeping motion, gently brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth to remove the decay-causing bacteria that exist in these places.
  • Use an egg timer or play a favorite song while brushing your teeth to get used to brushing for a full 2 to 3 minutes. Some electronic toothbrushes have timers that let you know when 2 minutes are up.

Brushing teeth at 45 degreesBrushing teeth at 45 degrees

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for these steps. Everytime I brush my teeth, I do it for the purpose of brushing not really keeping in mind the proper way of doing it (which can be advised by Austin pediatric dentists). Well, I guess I never actually knew the proper steps. So, thank you for this post. It did teach me a lot.


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