Hygienist Advice: Choosing the right toothbrush for you

Our Dental Hygienist and Therapist Victoria Fleet shares what toothbrushes she recommends for her patients.

THE ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH:

I recommend the Sonicare FlexCare+ Professional electric toothbrush.

This toothbrush unlike most electric toothbrushes on the market provides a vibrating action rather than a mechanical action. This means it is less abrasive on the teeth and gums and is particularly good for individuals with recession.

Any electronic toothbrush, if used poorly, can be very abrasive as with a manual toothbrush. However, the Sonicare works by vibrating the plaque off, not scrubbing it off.

Specifically, it vibrates with your saliva and produces tiny little air bubbles that are pushed just under the gum margin. This margin is where the anaerobic bacteria live (they live and thrive without oxygen) so the air is toxic to this bacteria and kills it naturally without chemicals.

This toothbrush helps to keep your teeth feeling cleaner for longer and can help with not abrading the tissues any more than they have been from previous brushing techniques.

Victoria’s top tip when using any electric toothbrush:

Avoid a heavy handed grip on the brush. The best way to do this is to hold it lightly with the tips of your fingers and glide it slowly over each tooth. This simple tip will go a long way in preventing tooth abrasion.

THE MANUAL TOOTHBRUSH:

The Sensodyne toothbrush is an excellent option for a manual tooth brush, although there are many good toothbrushes out there.

Why is this toothbrush a good option?

• The bristles are close together – a high bristle density is desirable
• Every bristle has a rounded top, rather than a pointed top which can be abrasive (when you look really closely!)
• The tooth bristles are firm enough but also soft enough to prevent toothbrush abrasion on both hard and soft tissues (hard tissues = teeth, soft tissues = gums)
• Small & narrow brush head – this is useful because you have better access right to the back of the mouth behind the last molar

Top tip for finding the right manual toothbrush:

You want a tooth brush that is soft, but also firm, with a high density of bristles.

So which is better – the manual or electric toothbrush?

You can have a great clean using an electric OR manual toothbrush. Similarly, you could be cleaning poorly no matter which you choose to use.

The most important part of cleaning your teeth well is your technique. 

Important note on your brushing technique:

Recession can be caused not only by a hard toothbrush, but more importantly by poor tooth brushing technique.

Our Dental Hygienists will be happy to discuss the right toothbrush for you and help you with your brushing technique.

If you’d like to book an appointment, click here.