4 Out of 5 Dentists Recommend…

June 29, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Dr. Buck @ 2:34 pm

I know you’ve heard those commercials that say “dental professionals recommend blah, blah”. Well any company can tweak the data to get those numbers. Each day, we get questions about what kind of toothbrushes, toothpastes, floss, and rinses are best. I love questions like this because it shows that we are driving home the point that home care is very important and our patients want to use the most effective tools to keep their teeth healthy. P&G and Colgate probably don’t want us dentists saying this, but it really doesn’t make a whole lot of difference what toothpaste or floss you use, just use something. Unless directed otherwise, use a toothpaste with fluoride. Most of the whitening, tartar control, flavored, etc is just marketing (however sensitivity toothpastes do have ingredients that can help with sensitive teeth). And floss…I don’t care if you use a piece of twine…I’m just happy if you are getting in there once a day with the floss. NOTHING can remove plaque between teeth like floss.
However, I do believe there are differences between toothbrushes. The biggest difference is manual versus electric. And any electric brush is going to be much more effective than a manual. The electric brushes take the work out of brushing and are more efficient. They range in prices from $10 to $200. The more expensive ones have more features such as timers and power settings plus are usually rechargable and will last longer. FYI, we sell the Sonicare brushes and I’ve been using one of those for about 9 years so that’s what we normally recommend.
If you have some dental work that has been done over the years that you’ve invested in, I think it’s smart to invest in a good electric toothbrush. If you’ve been healthy or just want to try an electric toothbrush, then go a little less expensive. My advice however is to toss the manual and get some sort of electric toothbrush.
Just like a manual toothbrush, you need to brush for at least 2 minutes (it’s really not hard to take 4-6 minutes from your day to brush, you have 1,434 minutes left in your day) and you need to change the brush head every 3-6 months depending on how hard you are on the bristles (stop scrubbing your teeth and your brush head will last longer). Check out the videos down below and if you have any questions, we’re always available to help out.
Best BrushSonicare Technology