Making the decision to switch to an electric toothbrush can be a game changer when it comes to dental hygiene. If you’ve always been a little skeptical about the benefits of an electric toothbrush, you’re not alone. Until recently I was perfectly happy with my good old-fashioned toothbrush and nobody would’ve convinced me otherwise. After a recent visit to the dentist though, and finding out I’d been blessed with my first cavity in several years, I decided to look at my options. Like a lot of people, I try to avoid visiting the dentist when possible, but I definitely don’t want cavities to become a regular occurrence.
My research led me to the simple conclusion that it was time to switch to an electric toothbrush. Yes, you can have nice clean teeth while using only a normal old-fashioned toothbrush, but it’s a lot easier to achieve that next level of clean if you switch to an electric brush. After sitting on the fence for quite some time, I decided it was time.
The Traditional Brush
A regular toothbrush is fine, but it’s limited by your own physical capabilities. On average, when brushing with a regular brush you’ll only be able to achieve about 300 to 400 brushes per minute; that’s not a lot when compared to the average electric toothbrush. That leads to the obvious conclusion that you’re simply not attacking the plaque on your teeth as effectively with a regular old-fashioned toothbrush.
Another thing to keep in mind with a regular toothbrush is that you have to do all of the work. My father recently switched to an electric toothbrush because he found it simply too hard to continue brushing his teeth effectively with a regular toothbrush. He has arthritis, and that constant brushing motion can be very painful on his hands. The electric brush, on the other hand, does most of the work for him, and he’s found his hands feel much better after using his new electric brush.
An Electric Brush Cleans Your Mouth Better
There’s no reason to sugarcoat it – an electric brush simply does a better job of cleaning your teeth and your mouth. In spite of the best efforts of dental professionals, most of us don’t do a good job of brushing our teeth adequately. I think in many cases it has a lot to do with wanting to rush out the door, so we just give our teeth a cursory brush and move on to the next part of our morning routine.
The advantage of an electric brush is that even if we’re rushing to get out the door, it’s still giving us a more effective clean. An electric brush can perform thousands of brushstrokes a minute, which means you’re guaranteed to remove considerably more plaque then you can with your regular toothbrush. While it’s still recommended that you clean your teeth for two minutes at every session, you can still get a much better clean with a quick brushing using an electric toothbrush than you can with a regular one. That will likely mean a lot fewer trips to the dentist.