How to choose the right toothbrush

In more recent years, choosing a toothbrush has become a bit of a minefield. With so much choice available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed!

But don’t worry. To help you decide which is the best toothbrush for you, we’ve come up with this simple guide. Read on!

Manual or Electric?

The first choice to make is whether to get a manual or electric toothbrush.

Generally, manual toothbrushes do a good job. Also, they’re widely available and cheap.

However, you might find a powered toothbrush handy if you:

  • Have limited manual dexterity
  • Sometimes brush too vigorously with a manual brush
  • Sometimes rush your brushing and need help in sticking to two minutes
  • Get advised to buy an electric toothbrush by your dentist
  • Fancy a gadget!

Also, many powered toothbrushes now alert you when you have brushed for two minutes and new products are always coming out with smart new features! Some will now even prompt you to move on to the next quadrant of your mouth when it is time to do so, making sure you get even coverage.

Ultimately, your technique is more important than your tools for toothbrushing. As long as you spend two minutes each time you brush (ideally twice a day), with fluoride toothpaste, it doesn’t matter and largely comes down to personal preferences.

Choose your bristles

The next thing to think about is the bristles: do you want bristles that are soft or hard?

Most dental professionals now agree that a soft-bristled toothbrush is best for most people’s teeth, especially for removing plaque and debris and looking after your gums.

A soft toothbrush will clean your teeth well and remove plaque if you brush your teeth thoroughly for two minutes. Sometimes people used to believe that the harder the bristles and the harder you scrubbed, the better the teeth clean but this is not true!

Medium and stiff bristles are now considered generally to be too hard on gums and enamel. Unless your dentist recommends brushing with a medium or hard toothbrush, choose a soft brush.

Head size

Do you need a small toothbrush head or a large head?

Small-headed brushes can better reach all areas of the mouth – including hard-to-reach back teeth. You can ask your dentist whether a particular shaped brush head would be useful for you.

Handle style

Toothbrushes have a variety of handle styles. Depending on your preferences and dexterity, you might prefer a flexible-neck handle or non-slip grip.

Appearance

Tooth brushing is something we need to do and you will be using whatever you choose twice a day, every day – sometimes more often! So choose the one you like the look of too. A fun, funky colour perhaps or one that matches your bathroom!

Conclusion

In this post, we’ve covered some of the choices to make when choosing a new toothbrush. Many of these choices come down to personal preferences so don’t panic if you need to try a few different styles before you settle on one that works for you.

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