Toothbrushing

Brushing clears away small particles of food and plaque away from your teeth, helping you prevent tooth decay and gum disease.

Tooth brushing basics

• Brush once in the morning and once at night for at least 2-minutes each time

• Use an electric toothbrush with a pressure sensor, they are better than manual toothbrushes

• Use toothpaste that contains fluoride, it strengthens your teeth and stops decay

• Brush your tongue, either with a toothbrush or a tongue scraper, it helps prevent bad breath

The correct brushing technique

1. Apply a small pea-sized amount of toothpaste to your brush - you don’t need a lot!

2. Angle your brush 45° towards your gum so that you are cleaning the bit where your tooth and gum meet

3. Make sure you do the outside, inside and chewing surfaces of all of your teeth

4. Make sure you are using the correct technique shown below

5. Don’t rinse your mouth, just spit out the excess toothpaste

Manual brush

Oral B

Philips

Recommended toothbrushes

Research shows rechargeable electric toothbrushes outperform both manual and battery-powered brushes.

You can buy all the good brushes on Amazon and they are always on offer on Black Friday!

• Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100 (£100)

• SURI Sustainable Electric toothbrush (£75)

• Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 (£179)

• Oral-B Smart 5 (£85)

• Oral-B iO-9 (£249)

Toothpaste

Choosing toothpaste is an easy job. Any toothpaste which contains fluoride will be suitable. There are however some kinds of toothpaste that can be useful for certain conditions.

• Sensodyne Rapid Relief - For sensitive teeth

• Sensodyne Pronamel - For people with worn-down teeth

Colgate Duraphat 2500 / 5000 - For people at high risk of decay (only available on prescription from a dentist)

Whitening toothpaste

There are many whitening kinds of toothpaste on the market. None of them will actually whiten your teeth, they work by removing superficial staining to make your teeth look glossy for a short period of time.

As long as they contain fluoride you can experiment with them to find one that works for you. If you like a particular fluoride-free toothpaste make sure you use a fluoride-containing one alongside it also.

Cleaning in between your teeth

Cleaning in between your teeth is just as important as brushing because that’s where most tooth decay occurs.

Flossing

Ideally, you want to floss every day but if you can’t manage that, don’t stress. Start off by doing it a few times a week and build up the habit of doing it once daily.

How to floss properly

Interdental brushes

Interdental brushes get underneath the gums and sweep away plaque bacteria that is trapped in the places where your brush or floss can’t reach. Interdental brushes are good and preventing gum disease and gingivitis.

How to use interdental brushes