How you hold your toothbrush can affect your oral health.
Who knew that the way you hold your toothbrush can affect your mouth care
1st.
Which hand do you brush with?
Right handed people most commonly miss the inside surfaces and gumline of the bottom right teeth as well as the top right i-tooth/canine at the corner of the mouth.
Left handed? It’s the opposite side where you need to take care.
2nd.
Where you START brushing impacts thoroughness of cleaning. We nearly always start brushing in the same place hence these teeth get more attention.
3rd.
How you hold your toothbrush affects your ability to manoeuvre the bristles around the mouth and reach all the surfaces and gumline.
Food for thought when you next brush your teeth?
Next time you are brushing your teeth try –
- Switching hands to reach difficult to brush surfaces
- Starting in a different part of your mouth every time you brush
- Altering your grasp to make it easier to place bristles at the gum line.
- Swapping to your non-dominant hand or altering your grasp as you move around your mouth aids concentration, focusing on the task in hand.
Changing ‘how’ can help improve technique and effectiveness.
The aim? Clean teeth, oral health, overall health and wellbeing.
Brush at least twice a day – at night and one other time.
Use fluoride toothpaste to clean along the gum line and every surface of all teeth. Spit out after brushing but don’t rinse all the paste away. Get the most from toothpaste ingredients.
Other things worth considering for effective toothbrushing
- Size and shape of toothbrush head
- Length, dimension and surface texture of toothbrush handle
- Power or manual toothbrush. If power- rechargeable or battery
- Weight of toothbrush
- Firmness of bristles
- Shape of bristles – splayed bristles? Time to replace head/toothbrush
Learn more about toothbrushing here and check out all our toothbrush options to help you have a healthier smile for life. Not sure what is right for you? Book a coaching session with oral health coach LeighGS here.