{"id":1969,"date":"2019-08-14T17:12:41","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T00:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dentalcareofriverside.acuwebservices.info\/?p=1969"},"modified":"2020-08-03T15:01:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T22:01:08","slug":"common-toothbrush-mistakes-to-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/common-toothbrush-mistakes-to-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Toothbrush Mistakes To Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MAINTAINING GOOD DENTAL<\/strong>\u00a0health isn&rsquo;t just about the quantity of your brushing \u2014 it&rsquo;s also about the quality. There are several mistakes many of us make when brushing our teeth, whether because we&rsquo;re using the wrong tools or because we&rsquo;re using the right tools the wrong way.<\/p>\n<h3>1. Keeping A Toothbrush Too Long<\/h3>\n<p>How long has it been since you got a new toothbrush? The American Dental Association recommends\u00a0<strong>replacing your toothbrush at least three times a year<\/strong>, because broken, frayed bristles can&rsquo;t do as good of a job of keeping your teeth clean.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Racing Through Your Brushing<\/h3>\n<p><strong>The average time people spend brushing their teeth is 45 seconds<\/strong>, which obviously falls far short of the full two minutes recommended. If you&rsquo;re having trouble making it through two whole minutes, try setting a timer or playing a song.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Brushing Too Hard<\/h3>\n<p>You might assume that the harder you brush, the cleaner your teeth will get, but\u00a0<strong>you really only need gentle pressure to scrub the leftover food and bacteria away<\/strong>. If you brush much harder than that, you risk damaging your gum tissue.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Using A Hard-Bristled Brush<\/h3>\n<p>Like brushing too hard, using a toothbrush with hard bristles can do more harm than good, especially to gum tissue. Talk to us if you&rsquo;re not sure which type of bristles your toothbrush should have.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Brushing Immediately After Eating<\/h3>\n<p>A common mistake people make when they&rsquo;re trying to take good care of their teeth is to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colgate.com\/en-us\/oral-health\/basics\/brushing-and-flossing\/is-brushing-teeth-after-eating-good-for-you-0313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer external\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">immediately<\/a>\u00a0brush them after a meal. Acidic foods and drinks temporarily weaken our tooth enamel, and brushing right away can cause damage. This is why\u00a0<strong>we should wait at least half an hour to brush<\/strong>\u00a0so that our saliva has time to neutralize things.<\/p>\n<h3>6. Poor Toothbrush Storage<\/h3>\n<p>Is your toothbrush smelly? Do you store it somewhere it can get plenty of air, or do you put it in a case where it never really dries out? Bacteria love moist environments, so\u00a0<strong>the best thing we can do to keep our toothbrushes clean is to store them upright<\/strong>\u00a0somewhere they can air dry between uses.<\/p>\n<h3>7. Bad Brushing Technique<\/h3>\n<p>Even brushing for two full minutes twice a day with the best toothbrush with the perfect bristle firmness won&rsquo;t do much for your teeth if your technique is off. Remember that you&rsquo;re brushing to get plaque and food particles out of the gumline, so\u00a0<strong>hold your brush at a 45\u00b0 angle to the gums and gently sweep the bristles in small circular motions<\/strong>. Do this at least 15 times in each area of the mouth, on the tongue side and outside of the teeth, and don&rsquo;t forget the chewing surfaces!<\/p>\n<p>\n    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xm9c5HAUBpY?rel=0\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<h3>Come To Us With Your Tooth Brushing Questions<\/h3>\n<p>If you want to learn more about good brushing technique, toothbrush storage, or how to pick the perfect toothbrush for you, just give us a call! We want to make sure that all of our patients have the right tools and knowledge to keep their teeth healthy for life!<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"uk-margin-remove\">We look forward to seeing you at your next appointment!<\/h4>\n<h6 class=\"uk-margin-top\">Top image by Flickr user\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/robertcupisz\/1303595669\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer external\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Robert Cupisz<\/a>\u00a0used under\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer external\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license<\/a>. Image cropped and modified from original.<\/h6>\n<p class=\"uk-text-meta\">The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MAINTAINING GOOD DENTAL\u00a0health isn&rsquo;t just about the quantity of your brushing \u2014 it&rsquo;s also about the quality. There are several mistakes many of us make when brushing our teeth, whether because we&rsquo;re using the wrong tools or because we&rsquo;re using the right tools the wrong way. 1. Keeping A Toothbrush Too Long How long has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,19,16,23,21,17],"tags":[],"post_flags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969"},{"taxonomy":"post_flag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dentalcareofriverside.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_flags?post=1969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}