Top tips for brushing your teeth: interesting facts about keeping your teeth healthy
Who said that brushing your teeth had to be monotonous or boring? It’s indeed true that thorough daily care is required to brush your teeth and to maintain good oral hygiene. However, there are some practical tips that you can use for brushing your teeth and for maintaining oral hygiene that help keep them healthy without making your routine too tiresome. Some are not only practical, but also fun! Keep reading to find out more.
How long should you be brushing your teeth for? Songs to brush your teeth to
Professionals recommend that you brush your teeth for at least 2 or 3 minutes in order to do it correctly, brushing each tooth and molar on all sides. Even though most people know how long they should brush their teeth, they don't keep track of time and spend less time brushing their teeth than they should. So that you’re not one of these people, we’re going to give you a tip for brushing your teeth for the optimum time: listen to songs to control the duration for which you brush your teeth. Since we’re going to be spending 82 days of our lives brushing our teeth (if we take into account the fact that we should be brushing them for at least 2 minutes and at least twice per day), what better way to do it than with rhythm and joy.
Choosing songs for brushing your teeth with a duration of at least 2 to 3 minutes can help you adhere to the recommended time. It’s a simple trick for adults to monitor the duration for which they brush their teeth, but it can also be fun and useful for children. Children’s songs or nursery rhymes can be useful for helping little ones with brushing their teeth in an easy and entertaining way.
Want to know something else? You don’t need to spend hours searching for songs to brush your teeth that align with the recommended duration. There are ready-made playlists on various music platforms so that you don’t have to rack your brain searching for the perfect song. Give it your all while keeping your teeth and gums clean!
How much dental floss do professionals recommend to use? The secret’s in your elbow!
When flossing, one of the main doubts people have is how much floss to use. To solve this doubt, a handy trick you can use is to take the distance from your hand to your elbow as the recommended amount of dental floss. In this way, you can quickly know how much dental floss to use for each cleaning, without wasting any extra floss each time you use it.
How often should you change your toothbrush or toothbrush head? A tip to remember
If you don’t know how often you should change your toothbrush or toothbrush head, in this section we’ll tell you how often you should, and how to remind yourself so that you don’t forget.
Changing your toothbrush every 3 to 4 months is key for ensuring your toothbrush is effective and guarantees good results. Using your toothbrush causes the bristles wear down, making it gradually less effective at removing dental plaque and bacteria correctly.
From Impress, one of our tips for remembering how often you should change your toothbrush is setting a regular reminder on your calendar or mobile phone. In this way, you don’t have to try to remember when you did it last or do the calculations to see when it’s time to do it again. Keep track of how often you change your toothbrush and keep it in good condition to ensure that you’re brushing your teeth correctly.
Don’t want to fall sick again? You should you change your toothbrush after being sick
Although our previous tip is very useful for knowing how often to change your toothbrush, there are times when we must make an exception. For example, we should also ensure that we’re changing our toothbrush after being sick.
But why should you change your toothbrush after being sick? After being sick, germs can remain on the toothbrush bristles and give you an infection again the next times you use it.
Remember this oral hygiene tip to avoid getting sick again!
How long should you wait after eating to brush your teeth? Don’t rush!
There are times when we rush and brush our teeth before we actually should. In this section we clarify how long to wait after eating to brush your teeth.
Eating causes a change in pH in the mouth, which increases acidity and weakens tooth enamel. Saliva is responsible for neutralising this, but it takes about 20 minutes for this to happen. This is why experts recommend waiting about 30 minutes after eating to brush your teeth, to avoid damaging your tooth enamel. Don’t forget to keep an eye on the time after eating to know how long you should wait to brush your teeth.
The big question! Should you brush your tongue?
It’s no secret that you should be brushing your tongue, but you probably forget! Remembering that you should brush your tongue is more important that many people realise: this simple action can go a long way in helping to prevent problems such as halitosis, tooth decay, gingivitis or periodontitis. This is why experts recommend brushing your tongue at least once per day, whether it be with a toothbrush or a tongue scraper.
Impress - your ally when it comes to taking care of your dental health
After discovering some tips for brushing your teeth and keeping your teeth and gums healthy, we would like to remind you that in order to maintain oral hygiene, you should also ensure you visit a dental specialist every so often to ensure that everything is going well. If you’re interested in having a dental cleaning or want to improve the appearance and health of your teeth with a clear aligner treatment, at Impress, we specialise in improving oral health and teeth alignment in order to increase the confidence and self-esteem of all of our patients.
If you’re interested in one of our aligner treatments or any other dental procedure, come to your nearest Impress clinic and get to know the team of professionals who will supervise your treatment. You can also book an appointment online, by phone on +44 20 3808 1072, or through WhatsApp.
