We often receive numerous inquiries from patients about how to choose a good toothbrush. We will try to answer the most frequent questions with this text. Washing/brushing teeth is the basic way of maintaining dental hygiene. It is recommended to brush your teeth after every meal, and if this is not possible, then at least twice a day. In addition to brushing teeth, it is advisable to use auxiliary means for maintaining dental hygiene, such as dental floss and mouthwash.

How should you brush your teeth? How should you brush your teeth?

By brushing the teeth, we want to ideally clean all surfaces of the teeth. When brushing with a manual brush, it is necessary to start from the outer surfaces, holding the brush at an angle of 45 degrees, and make light circular movements while touching the junction of the teeth and gums.

After we have brushed the outer surfaces, we move on to the inner and biting surfaces, repeating the same movements.

The pressure when brushing your teeth should be equal to the force we use when writing. Almost all of us use too much force when brushing, which can lead to unwanted changes in the gums.

How to choose a good manual brush?

An ideal brush should have a smaller head and a sufficiently large number of fibers that should not be hard. The smaller head of the brush allows us to access all surfaces of the teeth in the mouth, a sufficiently large number of fibers covers a large surface of the teeth in one movement, and the moderate hardness of the fibers (soft, medium hard) allows us to properly clean with minimal damage to the gums.

Electric or manual toothbrush? Does the brushing technique differ with electric brushes?

Mostly yes. Most electric brush manufacturers provide their own instructions on how to use the electric brush.

Sometimes it is necessary to brush with circular movements, some manufacturers have developed technology where you only need to touch the brush to the teeth, and with the appropriate technology, it cleans the teeth, etc.

Most of today’s electric toothbrushes have a great thing, it is a pressure regulator when brushing, which warns the user if he is pressing the brush too hard on the teeth and gums. This is usually in the form of an audible signal or a color change on special sensors.

It would be good to consult with your dentist before buying, and in the Balenović office you can see and try almost all the leading electric toothbrushes currently on the market.

What are the aids for maintaining dental hygiene?

Today, there are numerous aids for dental hygiene, the main ones being dental floss and mouthwashes. By brushing the teeth, we cannot completely remove all food residues in the area between the teeth, so flossing is necessary (“flossing”). For complete control of plaque, it is also advisable to use mouthwash, which also achieves chemical control of plaque.