How to Brush Teeth

Brushing our teeth is an everyday activity for all of us. Yet, it is staggering that quite a majority of adults do not know the correct method to properly brush their teeth leading to oral concerns in the long run including

but not limited to Plaque, Calculus, Bleeding Gums, Halitosis(Bad breath), Gum diseases, Caries, Tooth discoloration.

It should be noted that most of these dental problems do not evoke any symptoms or pain until they have progressed to a relatively advanced stage. Infact, many people search on the search engines on “how to brush my dogs teeth” when they should rather be searching for “how to brush my teeth”

Use a pea amount

There have been various tooth brushing techniques suggested historically by dentists but the most accepted brushing technique is “The Bass Method”.

Here, I outline step by step the strategy for effectively brushing your teeth keeping dental problems at bay.

• -Always use a soft bristled tooth brush, hard bristles damage your gums leading to gingival
  recession.
• -Wet your toothbrush and take a pea amount of toothpaste.


position1

• -Hold the tooth brush tilted an angle of 45 degrees towards your gums. The upper teeth (Maxillary teeth) should be cleaned first. Begin at the frontal (visible) aspect of the most posterior (Back) teeth and clean the teeth 3 at a time.

position 2

• -Use short, back and forth motions with out exerting too much pressure. Concentrate on the part of tooth which is nearer to the gums (the neck of the tooth technically referred as Cervical 1/3 of tooth.) as improper cleaning of this part is most often responsible for gum diseases.
• -First clean the frontal (visible/outer) surface of teeth, then the chewing surfaceand lastly the inner surfaces. If you find the head of brush too large to maintain the 45 degree angle while cleaning the inner surface of teeth, use the brush vertically.

• -Now, Lift the brush and move anteriorly to the next 3 teeth and repeat the same process cleaning the outer, chewing and inner surfaces.
• -Continue along the arch till you reach the end of the arch and then shift to the lower teeth and clean them in a similar way.


position 3

• -Brush gently along the gum line of your tooth as this effectively dislodges any accumulated food debris (on which bacteria grows).
• -Brush your tongue too which keeps bad breath away.