Tips to Help You Achieve Perfect Toothbrushing Technique

But could those habits be doing more harm than good?

When done incorrectly, brushing can actually damage your teeth and gums through a lack of effort in the right areas or too much wear in others. We recommend asking your dentist or dental hygienist about proper brushing techniques at your next visit.

In the meantime, here are a few best practices for brushing that you can add to your twice-daily routine, along with recommended brushes to strengthen your technique.  

Brushing techniques to improve your oral health

These tips will get you on the road to better oral health, and as a result, better health overall!

Brush position

You may be thinking, “The bristles go against my teeth, what could I possibly be doing wrong?” And you’re right – that’s 90% of the way to an optimal brushing form. The one adjustment that most people need to make is the angle of the brush head.  

Plaque tends to develop on teeth along the gum lines. Holding your brush so the bristles meet your teeth at a 45-degree angle toward your gums is the best way to ensure the bristles are reaching just beneath the edge of the gum line, where you need them most.

Brushing movement

Once you have your toothbrush head at the correct 45° angle, it’s time to get brushing. There are a couple of techniques that optimize the effectiveness of brushing.

• Roll technique: sweep the brush across the surface of your teeth from the gumline towards the biting surface. This movement should come from your wrist.
• Bass method: vibrate the brush back and forth with very short strokes without disengaging the tips of the filaments from the gum line.

You can also combine these techniques. 

Avoid horizontal brushing which can flatten the gum tissue between the teeth (known as gingival papilla) and lead to gum recession.

If you choose an oscillating-rotating power toothbrush, however, there is no additional movement needed. Just position the round head at the junction of tooth and gum and remain in contact with each surface for several seconds. Since the head is smaller than the width of some teeth like the molars, you will at times need to reposition to cover the whole surface of the tooth before moving to the next tooth.

Brushing pressure

People generally think that more is better, but sometimes that gets us into trouble. In terms of brushing pressure, more can actually harm your teeth and gums. Over time excess pressure while brushing can cause gums to begin receding.

The purpose of brushing is to remove food particles and the plaque that forms daily on your teeth. Once that plaque has hardened into tartar, it cannot be brushed away at home. Tartar removal is part of your twice-yearly dental cleaning routine at the dentist’s office.

You’re probably left wondering: What is the optimal brushing pressure to remove plaque?
The scientific answer is between 150 to 200 grams of pressure. The at-home answer requires an analogy.

Think about clearing off a kitchen counter. When you wipe a cleaning rag across the surface, the loose bits of food brush away quite easily, while any dried-on spots require extra elbow grease. Your goal with brushing should be to remove the “loose bits” of food and plaque – no elbow grease required. Your dental professional will go after the dried-on spots.

Still uncertain? Ask your dental professional if you can demonstrate your brushing technique, and they’ll help you find the right pressure to use. In addition, some electric toothbrushes have a pressure sensor and blink to alert you when you put too much pressure on your teeth with the brush.  

Duration and frequency of brushing

There is an optimal amount of time for brushing, too! Brushing for too short a time means you won’t adequately remove all the plaque. Brushing for too much time can start to wear at the gumline.

The ideal amount of time for brushing your teeth is two minutes each session, twice a day. To make it even easier to manage your brushing time, dental professionals recommend spending thirty seconds on each quadrant of the mouth: upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right, Then be sure to include the surfaces of your cheeks and tongue.

Tool tip: If you know any young brushers, you can help them set healthy habits right away with brushes designed with lights that indicate when to switch areas and when to stop brushing.

Cover all surfaces

You can’t remove food and plaque from areas you don’t brush. The following tips will help ensure you brush every surface in your mouth:

• Use the quadrant brushing method mentioned in the previous section: Upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right.
• In each quadrant, brush outer surfaces, then inner surfaces, and finally chewing surfaces.
• Give extra attention to all surfaces of your back molars and the inner surfaces of your front teeth – two areas that are most commonly overlooked.
• Don’t forget to brush your tongue. Yes, this surface counts, too! Tongues harbor bacteria that can be harmful to teeth. (It’s also helpful for fresh breath.)
• Don’t forget to brush in-between your teeth, at least once a day. The side surfaces not reached by the toothbrush alone also need to be cleaned with interdental brushes (space permitting) or floss.