Everyone knows you should brush your teeth. But many people don’t know there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.
Common mistakes people make when brushing their teeth:
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Rushing the brushing routine
The average time most people spend brushing is 45 seconds, but your teeth should be brushed for a full two minutes, twice per day. Try setting a timer so you get on the routine of not rushing your brushing session.
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When it comes to brushing, harder isn’t better
Be gentle with your teeth. You may think brushing harder will remove more leftover food and the bacteria that loves to eat it, but a gentle brushing is all that’s needed. Too much pressure may wear down the hard outer shell on your teeth; also it can cause gums to recede over time.
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Keeping their toothbrush for too long
Frayed and broken bristles won’t keep your teeth clean—these are signs it’s time to let go. The ADA recommend that you change your toothbrush every 3 or 4 months.
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Not cleaning your Tongue
After brushing your teeth – clean your tongue to prevent bad breath and remove bacteria. A tongue cleaner scrapes the residual bacteria off your tongue. If you don’t want to do that – get a toothbrush that has a tongue scraper on the opposite side.
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Forgetting the gum line
Bacteria often seats where your tooth meets your gum. We miss that area a lot. Brushing your teeth, it turns out, means brushing your whole tooth. Or at least everything you can get to with your brush. And that includes just under the gum.