HOW TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH PROPERLY

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     The video in this article demonstrates how to brush your teeth properly and the best way to use an electric toothbrush. I have been told many times in the comment section of my toothbrush reviews that “you are brushing wrong.” So, I decided to put everyone’s claim to the test and find the best way to brush my teeth.
     Some people have a problem with how I brush when I test toothbrushes because of how toothbrush companies recommend you brush with their electric toothbrushes. Conventional wisdom suggests you don’t scrub or manually brush using an electric toothbrush. Instead, they suggest you guide the toothbrush along with the teeth. To test out the different techniques, I disclose my dental plaque and show the results of my method versus theirs below.
     I was using here my previous favorite toothbrush. Click here for my new favorite toothbrush, or click here to see why it is my favorite.

Key Points With Both Manual & Electric Brushes

Floss First

Wet Bristles

Apply Toothpaste

Brush Each Quadrant
30 Seconds

Bristles at 45° to the Tooth

Light Pressure

Small Circlular Brushing Movements

Soft Bristles

Poor Brush Technique  

     In my experiment, on the first day, I brushed my teeth by doing what was recommended by guiding the brush along with my teeth and letting the brush do all the work. It does do 33,000 sonic vibrations per minute, so it would seem logical that the brush itself will do all the work. When brushing, aim the bristles at a 45-degree angle to the tooth so that some of the bristles get under the gums and clean the plaque below the gum line. The great thing about electric toothbrushes is that the timer helps brush one quadrant at a time for 30 seconds. Don't forget that of those 30 seconds per quadrant, 10 to 12 seconds should be on the tooth's front or cheek side and 10 or 12 seconds on the back or tongue side of the tooth. Then spend 6 to 8 seconds brushing the tooth's biting surface for each quadrant. As I finish and look at my results, they aren't great, as shown in the pictures following this subsection. They are pretty bad, and this is my favorite toothbrush. Even after using their floss, which is by far the best floss I have found, the results are much better, BUT they are still not great. There was just too much plaque left behind from that brushing technique to get it all
BEFORE Bad Brushing Technique
AFTER Bad Brushing Technique
Before and after brushing with gliding techniques. Notice the amount of pink plaque left on lower back teeth. 

Good Brush Technique

     Now let’s move on to using the electric toothbrush like a manual toothbrush. In theory, if this toothbrush technique works, you would get the results of a manual toothbrush but with the added benefit of those 33,000 sonic vibrations. Instead of the previous technique, I lightly scrubbed with the electric toothbrush instead of guiding the toothbrush. Like before, I brushed 30 seconds per quadrant: 11 seconds on the cheek side, then the tongue side with the bristles at a 45-degree angle, and then 8 seconds on the biting surface. Now you can see the results to the right are way better than the previous results. Right off the bat, they are almost perfect. There are some big spots on the upper left canine and some faint marks on the lower molars, but it looks much better overall than before.
     So as you can see, at least with this toothbrush, the best technique is to scrub lightly while using your electric toothbrush. To me, this technique makes sense. The more you move the brush, the more angles it can attack and remove the plaque. And remember how fast the toothbrush is moving at 33000 vibrations a minute. That is 550 vibrations a second and 55 vibrations a tenth of a second. If you were scraping off paint, you wouldn’t spend 1000 strokes in the same direction if it only took five to remove it. The more powerful manual stroke removes the bulk of the plaque. The sonic vibrations do more of the thorough plaque removal. So it is essential to gently scrub while using the toothbrush in a circular and random pattern, even with my favorite toothbrush.
AFTER Good Brushing Technique
Before and after using a manual brushing technique. Note that the plaque is more broken up and  faint on the posterior teeth than the after photo of the poor technique.

Conclusion

     As you can see from my results, plaque removal is much better using the same brushing technique as a manual toothbrush with an electric toothbrush. With this technique, in conjunction with the correct flossing technique and using the best toothbrush and floss, you will have an immaculate daily brushing and flossing routine.
AFTER Bad Brushing Technique
AFTER Good Brushing Technique
Above picture is the after of brushing with a gliding technique. Below is the after of brushing with a manual brushing technique. You can see there is less plaque from a really good brushing technique.

Our Favorite Toothbrush

EZZI is our favorite toothbrush for cavities, gum disease, sensitive teeth, and braces. It is for both adults and kids.

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91701

909-987-7676