Dr. Teen's Bible of Tooth Brushing .... 10:1 odds you bail before the end.
It is best to floss your teeth before you brush.
By flossing first, you expose those plaque free flossed surfaces of your teeth to your fluoride toothpaste, allowing them to benefit from the fluoride protection. All of those bubbles and toothpaste also move away the plaque that was loosened by the floss.
Brush well morning and night to remove the plaque.
If you tend to collect food between your teeth after eating, brushing and or flossing briefly after meals to remove loose food particles is recommended.
Use a fluoride containing toothpaste to help prevent decay.
If you have many fillings or crowns, a history of decay, tooth sensitivity near the gumline, dry mouth, have gastric reflux disease, etc., we may additionally recommend and dispense a more effective brush-on fluoride supplement such as Prevident.
Think of brushing your teeth as being a two part process:
The first part is general brushing of all surfaces of your teeth.
The second part is gumline focused brushing, which is brushing using a technique dedicated to removing tooth plaque located nearest the gumline. Common brushing methods often leave plaque bacteria remaining on the teeth right next to the gums. It is important to remove this plaque and usually requires an additional two minutes of brushing in a manner described below. Leaving plaque near the gum can result in root decay, tooth discoloration and sensitivity, gingivitis and/or periodontitis, recurrent decay under crowns and fillings, and poor breath. Do you think removing it is worth another two minutes of your time twice a day?
Gumline brushing technique: To brush the all important areas of your teeth next to the gum's edge, angle the bristles slightly towards the gums, and massage away the soft plaque from one or two teeth at a time using small movements of the brush. The strokes may be circular, or back and forth, or even up and down (I prefer circular). The key thing is that your movements must be small, short stroked movements, or small circles. This small wiggling and jiggling motion of the bristles massages away the plaque without damaging the gums or fragile tooth structure in these areas. Continue to slowly move your brush along from tooth to tooth while continuing these small movements. Do this on all your teeth, brushing both the outside and inside surfaces. This typically takes about two minutes or so to complete. What you do not want to do is use any long back and forth brush strokes along the gumline. These large movements can damage gums, cause recession, and abrade away delicate tooth structure.
Frequently missed areas: Be aware of and focus on brushing your teeth more carefully in areas where we dental professionals often see that people have failed in plaque removal, such as:
⇛The back most tooth in each quadrant of the mouth like wisdom teeth for example (give them 10 extra small strokes on all sides). The further back these teeth are, like wisdom teeth when present, the more often they get missed.
⇛The inside surfaces (lingual or tongue facing surfaces) of your lower molars and bicuspids, especially along the gumline (the tongue often blocks your performance in these areas). Concentrate more there and tell your overly territorial tongue to chill for a few moments.
⇛The outside surfaces (buccal surfaces which face your cheek) of your most posterior upper molars (the bone in the side of your jaw gets in the way blocking your performance). The trick here is to close your lower jaw half way down and move it towards the side that you are brushing, whether it be to the left or right. This opens up the space between the cheek and the tooth so you can reach and brush the side of that far-back upper molar, without being blocked by the cheek. If you stick a clean finger back there and move your jaw side to side, you will feel how the space opens or closes with jaw position.
Chewing Surfaces: Brush the chewing surfaces of your teeth using small short strokes of the brush, cleaning one or two teeth at a time. Do not use long back and forth brush strokes. Long strokes jump right over the grooves (pits and fissures) in the chewing surfaces, never penetrating them nor cleaning the plaque from them. The result can be more decay. Short brushing strokes help to penetrate and clean them. Think about it... it makes sense. (A bit of trivia, and don't say this is all trivia- the old hard tooth brushes had such thick bristles that they had no chance of penetrating and cleaning these grooves. The newer, softer brushes of today have narrow .007 inch diameter or smaller bristles which have a better chance of cleaning, and are end rounded to avoid gum irritation. They clean better, wear teeth less, and cause less gum recession. Plaque is soft hence soft brushes are more than adequate to remove it. Hard or medium brushes remove tooth structure and gum tissue. So... if you have any old hard brushes, reserve their use for stripping furniture.)
Brush brush brush your tongue tongue tongue! After you finish brushing your teeth, and just before your rinse out the toothpaste from your mouth, put a bit of cold water on your brush, stick your tongue all the way out, and brush the top of it a with few strokes including towards the back. Now rinse your mouth. The tongue is textured with papillae and harbors lots of bacteria, and is the major source of mouth odors. Daily tongue brushing freshens breath much more than occasional tongue brushing, because it removes secondary deeper plaque.
Electric brushes are good tools if they are high quality and used well. The motorized action can save time and be quite effective, but you still must guide and direct the brush well to remove the plaque as described above, and not use excessive pressure. If you are a periodontal patient with fragile tissue types, care must be taken to select a brush that will not traumatize and recede your gums. Braun Oral B and Phillips Sonicare both make excellent brushes. One of the most gentle, deep penetrating and effective brushes is the Rotadent Contour, which is available through dental offices. Ask Dr. Teen or your dentist if you need guidance.
Congratulations!! If you made it to this point without falling asleep, I am impressed with your concern, patience and tenacity. You should have a big smile on your face as a result of this accomplishment, and hopefully we have helped to keep it a bright, healthy smile. But then again... you have not yet read the forthcoming flossing information. ⍢ :-}
If this helped, you're welcome to go back to the Blog and leave a comment.
By flossing first, you expose those plaque free flossed surfaces of your teeth to your fluoride toothpaste, allowing them to benefit from the fluoride protection. All of those bubbles and toothpaste also move away the plaque that was loosened by the floss.
Brush well morning and night to remove the plaque.
If you tend to collect food between your teeth after eating, brushing and or flossing briefly after meals to remove loose food particles is recommended.
Use a fluoride containing toothpaste to help prevent decay.
If you have many fillings or crowns, a history of decay, tooth sensitivity near the gumline, dry mouth, have gastric reflux disease, etc., we may additionally recommend and dispense a more effective brush-on fluoride supplement such as Prevident.
Think of brushing your teeth as being a two part process:
The first part is general brushing of all surfaces of your teeth.
The second part is gumline focused brushing, which is brushing using a technique dedicated to removing tooth plaque located nearest the gumline. Common brushing methods often leave plaque bacteria remaining on the teeth right next to the gums. It is important to remove this plaque and usually requires an additional two minutes of brushing in a manner described below. Leaving plaque near the gum can result in root decay, tooth discoloration and sensitivity, gingivitis and/or periodontitis, recurrent decay under crowns and fillings, and poor breath. Do you think removing it is worth another two minutes of your time twice a day?
Gumline brushing technique: To brush the all important areas of your teeth next to the gum's edge, angle the bristles slightly towards the gums, and massage away the soft plaque from one or two teeth at a time using small movements of the brush. The strokes may be circular, or back and forth, or even up and down (I prefer circular). The key thing is that your movements must be small, short stroked movements, or small circles. This small wiggling and jiggling motion of the bristles massages away the plaque without damaging the gums or fragile tooth structure in these areas. Continue to slowly move your brush along from tooth to tooth while continuing these small movements. Do this on all your teeth, brushing both the outside and inside surfaces. This typically takes about two minutes or so to complete. What you do not want to do is use any long back and forth brush strokes along the gumline. These large movements can damage gums, cause recession, and abrade away delicate tooth structure.
Frequently missed areas: Be aware of and focus on brushing your teeth more carefully in areas where we dental professionals often see that people have failed in plaque removal, such as:
⇛The back most tooth in each quadrant of the mouth like wisdom teeth for example (give them 10 extra small strokes on all sides). The further back these teeth are, like wisdom teeth when present, the more often they get missed.
⇛The inside surfaces (lingual or tongue facing surfaces) of your lower molars and bicuspids, especially along the gumline (the tongue often blocks your performance in these areas). Concentrate more there and tell your overly territorial tongue to chill for a few moments.
⇛The outside surfaces (buccal surfaces which face your cheek) of your most posterior upper molars (the bone in the side of your jaw gets in the way blocking your performance). The trick here is to close your lower jaw half way down and move it towards the side that you are brushing, whether it be to the left or right. This opens up the space between the cheek and the tooth so you can reach and brush the side of that far-back upper molar, without being blocked by the cheek. If you stick a clean finger back there and move your jaw side to side, you will feel how the space opens or closes with jaw position.
Chewing Surfaces: Brush the chewing surfaces of your teeth using small short strokes of the brush, cleaning one or two teeth at a time. Do not use long back and forth brush strokes. Long strokes jump right over the grooves (pits and fissures) in the chewing surfaces, never penetrating them nor cleaning the plaque from them. The result can be more decay. Short brushing strokes help to penetrate and clean them. Think about it... it makes sense. (A bit of trivia, and don't say this is all trivia- the old hard tooth brushes had such thick bristles that they had no chance of penetrating and cleaning these grooves. The newer, softer brushes of today have narrow .007 inch diameter or smaller bristles which have a better chance of cleaning, and are end rounded to avoid gum irritation. They clean better, wear teeth less, and cause less gum recession. Plaque is soft hence soft brushes are more than adequate to remove it. Hard or medium brushes remove tooth structure and gum tissue. So... if you have any old hard brushes, reserve their use for stripping furniture.)
Brush brush brush your tongue tongue tongue! After you finish brushing your teeth, and just before your rinse out the toothpaste from your mouth, put a bit of cold water on your brush, stick your tongue all the way out, and brush the top of it a with few strokes including towards the back. Now rinse your mouth. The tongue is textured with papillae and harbors lots of bacteria, and is the major source of mouth odors. Daily tongue brushing freshens breath much more than occasional tongue brushing, because it removes secondary deeper plaque.
Electric brushes are good tools if they are high quality and used well. The motorized action can save time and be quite effective, but you still must guide and direct the brush well to remove the plaque as described above, and not use excessive pressure. If you are a periodontal patient with fragile tissue types, care must be taken to select a brush that will not traumatize and recede your gums. Braun Oral B and Phillips Sonicare both make excellent brushes. One of the most gentle, deep penetrating and effective brushes is the Rotadent Contour, which is available through dental offices. Ask Dr. Teen or your dentist if you need guidance.
Congratulations!! If you made it to this point without falling asleep, I am impressed with your concern, patience and tenacity. You should have a big smile on your face as a result of this accomplishment, and hopefully we have helped to keep it a bright, healthy smile. But then again... you have not yet read the forthcoming flossing information. ⍢ :-}
If this helped, you're welcome to go back to the Blog and leave a comment.