Tip 1: How important is flossing? and mouthwash?
If you don’t floss, you are missing more than one-third of your tooth surface. We recommend to use a waterflosser as the research has shown that it removed 99.9% of the biofilm which is the first layer that the bacteria produce to be able to create plaque.
Rinsing with a fluoride mouthwash AFTER brushing is normally not necessary but mouthwashes could be used during the day to counter balance acid attack from food if you can't brush but it shouldn’t be seen as a substitute for tooth brushing, and your dentist should advise you if you need to make mouthwash part of a daily oral health routine.
Tip 2: Do your gums bleed from brushing too hard?
If you experience bleeding when brushing your teeth it doesn’t mean that you have brushed too hard, it’s an alarm to tell you that there is plaque under your gums and that you need to brush and floss under the gums to clear it out. It will bleed less the next day and stop bleeding the following day, once this has happened it means you have successfully cleared the plaque.
Tip 3: How important is the type of brush? Should it be electric? Do different people need different types of brushes?
Always choose a soft toothbrush (medium and hard should be kept to brush your shoes!) Most important is the technique, the only place you should worry about is under the gums. (Gums are not attached to the teeth on the first 3mm, therefore this is where the plaque hides perfectly.
The toothbrush needs to be held at a 45-degree angle to let the bristles clean under the gums (please see our video on the correct brushing and flossing techniques!).
Once you have a good technique, you can use a sonic toothbrush I would not advise a rotating head electric toothbrush such as (Oral B, Braun) it doesn’t clean as well as a sonic brush does under the gums.
Tip 4: What toothpaste should we use, and how much?
Fluoride toothpaste is recommended because it changes the structure of the enamel and makes it more resistant to the bacterial acidic attack. Please note however, children under the age of 2 years old tend to swallow a lot of the toothpaste so use a non-fluoride toothpaste with this age. The size of a pea is sufficient amount of toothpaste to use for everyone.
