We’ve all heard that the pen is mightier than the sword. You might also say that the toothbrush is mightier than the drill! That’s because if you wield your toothbrush properly, it’s a very powerful weapon against tooth decay & gum disease. But like any tool, if you want it to work best, you need to take care of it. That’s why you need to replace your toothbrush frequently to maintain proper oral hygiene!

Change Your Toothbrush Every 3 Months

The American Dental Association recommends replacing your toothbrush every 3-4 months. Toothbrushes become worn over time & bristles bend & fray they become less effective at cleaning your teeth. A toothbrush with straight, stiff (not hard!) bristles will do the best job.

If you find you often forget to replace your toothbrush on time, try putting a note or a reminder in your personal calendar every 3 months to buy a new one. Always buy soft-bristled toothbrushes. Hard or medium bristles are not necessary to properly or effectively clean your teeth, & may even damage your enamel, making your teeth more vulnerable to tooth decay.

Another good reminder of when to change your toothbrush is when we hand you a new one at your 6-month cleaning appointment! You should replace your toothbrush at least once between every bi-yearly oral hygiene appointment with us.

Signs It’s Time to Change

Not everyone knows this, but toothbrushes will actually show physical signs that it’s time for them to be replaced. The most obvious sign is that the bristles will start to fray & splay outward instead of standing up straight.

(This effect will be more severe if you brush your teeth to hard. If you notice your brush’s bristles fraying very soon after they’re new, it may be a sign that you’re brushing so hard you can damage your teeth or cause sensitivity. How thorough you are is much more important than how hard you brush. Be gentle!)

Many toothbrush manufacturers also build a wear guide into the bristles of their brushes. Most of the time this is in the form of a colored strip of bristles. Once the color on these bristles has faded significantly, it’s time to replace your toothbrush.

Humans have been using toothbrushes to remove food from teeth for thousands of years. Early toothbrushes were sticks with frayed ends, & later brushes were made from bone, wood or ivory & animal hairs. We have come a long way since then, & toothbrushes today are very effective at removing food & plaque & keeping your teeth & gums clean to prevent tooth decay.

Why Brush Your Teeth?

Brushing your teeth removes food & plaque, which is bacteria that eats away at your teeth & can build up & become tartar, a hardened form of plaque. Without daily brushing, plaque & tartar can build up, & the acids that they produce can erode your tooth enamel & irritate your gums. Brushing your teeth can help prevent cavities & gum disease, so be sure to brush every day! The ADA recommends brushing a minimum of twice a day (usually morning & before bed).

Types of Toothbrushes

There are two types of toothbrushes: manual & powered. Both types are equally effective at cleaning your teeth, but powered toothbrushes can be fun for children & easy to use for people who have trouble using manual toothbrushes. Use whichever type is easiest for you.

Bristles on toothbrushes vary in toughness, from soft to hard, & most dentists recommend using a soft-bristled toothbrush. Hard bristles can actually damage your enamel, irritate your gums & can contribute to tooth sensitivity!

No matter which type of toothbrush you use, you should brush twice a day for two minutes with a fluoride toothpaste & replace your toothbrush every 3-4 months, or whenever the bristles seem frayed. Many toothbrushes even have wear indicators in the bristles that will lose color or change color when the toothbrush needs to be replaced.

For recommendations on how to choose a toothbrush that is best for your smile, ask your dentist or dental hygienist. And remember, brushing at home is not enough to ensure your dental health. Be sure to visit the dentist at least every six months for your professional cleaning! We may even throw in a free toothbrush.

The best way to choose a toothpaste is to ask for a recommendation from your dentist—they will know your needs the best—but here are some tips for choosing a toothpaste yourself!

What Is Toothpaste?

Toothpastes are gels, pastes or powders that help remove plaque from teeth. They are made of made of small abrasive particles (like silicates & salts), fluoride, humectants (used to keep the paste moist), thickeners (like natural gums, cellulose or seaweed), detergents (for foaming action) & flavoring agents. Different toothpastes do different things—like whitening, preventing gum disease & protecting sensitive teeth—but all ADA complying toothpastes contain fluoride.

What Is Fluoride? 

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that helps keep teeth clean & tooth enamel strong by making it more resistant to acids that decay your teeth. Fluoride can be found in tea, wine, raisins, potatoes, lamb & carrots! Some communities also put a safe amount in their tap water. Before water fluoridation, children had about three times as many cavities!

The fluoride you get from food, water & toothpastes is applied topically to your teeth & becomes part of your saliva, which means your teeth get constantly bathed in fluoride throughout the day. It’s a great way to prevent tooth decay & strengthen your enamel.

In addition to fluoride in toothpaste & in drinking water, you dentist may suggest an in-office topical fluoride treatment. This treatment is usually recommended for children, but can also be performed on adults.

Types of Toothpastes

Different toothpastes contain different things to affect the teeth in specific ways. Some toothpastes contain ingredients to reduce tooth sensitivity, to help reduce gingivitis, to remove tartar (a build up of hardened plaque) or to whiten teeth by removing surface stains. You can even find fruit-flavored toothpastes to encourage your children to develop good brushing habits!

Make sure to always use toothpaste with fluoride in it to help prevent tooth decay, but you can find toothpastes with additional ingredients to do all of the above! Ask your dentist which toothpaste is best for your smile.

Like any relationship in life, having good communication with your dentist is the key to success. The five tips listed below are intended to help you improve your oral health by communicating better with your dentist & /or dental hygienist.

1. If your dental hygienist or dentist says something you don’t quite understand, don’t just nod or pretend you do understand, ask for clarification! Sometimes we have trouble translating from the clinical language our dental colleagues understand to words that patients understand. So if you hear us saying unfamiliar words, ask us what they mean, even if you’re afraid it’s something super basic that most people already know. There are no stupid questions. The more you understand about your oral health, the better it will be!
2. Tell us the real reason you’re hesitating to commit to recommended treatment. It’s a lot better for us to know what you’re thinking than trying to guess. If your concern is the cost of treatment, tell us & we might be able to offer your payment options or treatment alternatives that you weren’t aware of. If you’re hesitating because you have a fear of dental procedures, let us know so we can offer distractions like headphones or movies, or even sedation to ease your nerves. If you don’t understand the purpose or process of the treatment, please ask us for clarification & we’ll find a better way to explain it.
3. Don’t say yes to an appointment you already know you probably can’t keep just because you want to be polite or feel pressured. If you know that Tuesdays at 4pm are a bad time for you, don’t let us schedule your appointment then. Be honest about when you can get time off or when you get out of work, & we’ll be happy to accommodate you. Finding the right place for you in our schedule is much better for your oral health than if you have to cancel or skip your appointment in the future!
4. Don’t lie about how often you brush or floss. For one thing, you dental hygienist will be able to tell by looking at your mouth how well you’re taking care of your teeth. What’s more, signs or symptoms we may detect in your mouth may mean something completely different depending on what you tell us. In order to care for you properly, we should have the most accurate information you can give us!
5. Don’t be dishonest about your lifestyle & dietary choices that are bad for the health of your teeth. If you’re a smoker, please try to quit! The affects on your mouth go way beyond yellow/brown teeth. No one will be a more enthusiastic cheerleader for your effort to quit than your dentist & dental hygienist! Consuming excessive amounts of sugary drinks, sugar-free soda pop & energy drinks, sports drinks or highly acidic drinks like citrus juices can put you at high risk for tooth decay or rot your teeth directly by breaking down your tooth enamel. If we have a realistic understanding of your habits we can help guide you to change them for the better.

As dental professionals, our favorite thing is a happy & healthy smile. We see your dental health as a team effort & if you follow the tips above, you’re sure to be a team player!

At every dental appointment, dental patients are reminded of the importance of their at-home oral hygiene practices: Brush your teeth, floss, rinse and so on. Everyone knows the basics, but have you heard of tongue scraping?

Your tongue is a big muscle covered in tons of little bumps called papillae, where your taste buds live. It helps you eat food and drink water. That means that everything that touches and gets stuck in your teeth also touches your tongue—and it doesn’t all go away when you brush, floss, or rinse.

The tongue is constantly exposed to bacteria just like teeth are, and it can hold onto them really well thanks to its bumpy texture. If you ever notice a white film on your tongue, it could be bacteria or plaque—and if you don’t clean it, the bacteria can make their way onto your teeth even if you’ve recently brushed and flossed.

That’s where tongue scraping comes in. The best way to clean the plaque and bacteria off your tongue is to scrape it. There are tools made specifically to help you scrape your teeth: They’re called (surprise, surprise!) tongue scrapers.

When using a tongue scraper, start at the back of your tongue and gently but firmly scrape toward the tip of your tongue. After each scrape, wipe off the scraper to get rid of any residue. You might only need to scrape once, but we recommend you do it each time you brush your teeth. Alternatively, you can use a spoon or simply brush your tongue with a toothbrush, but neither is as effective as using a scraper.

There are more benefits to tongue scraping than just a clean tongue. It can also reduce bad breath, improve your sense of taste (think of all the clean taste buds!) and even improve your oral appearance. Regularly scraping your tongue should keep it a nice, healthy pink color.

As with all dental care, consistency is key. Just like you should brush your teeth twice a day, you’ll only see improvements to your tongue if you clean it every day.

Brushing your teeth is such a routine habit that you may forget that there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. But proper brushing is super important for preventing tooth decay and gum disease! Here are a few things you may be doing wrong in your dental hygiene habits and what to do instead to make sure your smile stays healthy now and into the future.

You’re Rushing and Brushing Too Hard

Hard and fast may be great for your SoulCycle workout, but not so for your teeth. Whether you’re rushing out the door to work in the morning or groggily stumbling to bed in the evening, there’s a tendency to rush through your dental hygiene routine just to get it over with. If you’re not going to brush for 2 whole minutes, you may think you can make up for it by applying more pressure and scrubbing your teeth harder. Not true! It’s much more important to be thorough and gentle. Brushing too hard can actually weaken your tooth enamel, making your teeth more vulnerable to tooth decay and sensitive teeth. Plus, you can actually irritate an injure your gums by brushing too hard. Take the time to do it right and your smile will thank you!

You’re Using the Wrong Toothbrush

Despite what some ads and commercials might have you think, there is no single brand of toothbrush that most dentists recommend. That being said, there are some guidelines you should always follow when choosing a toothbrush. First, get a soft-bristle brush. We know there are medium bristle and hard bristle options out there, but we’re sort of confused as to why they exist, because they’re not good for your teeth (they can be really hard on your tooth enamel, which can lead to cavities and sensitivity). So stick to a soft bristle brush and only buy a hard bristle one if you’re going to use it to clean the grout in your bathroom.

Believe it or not, size is important too. If you have a smaller mouth, choose a brush with a smaller head that allows you to reach the tighter spaces in the back of your mouth. We’d hate to see your back molars getting neglected just because your toothbrush is too big!

Your Toothbrush Is Ancient

Once you’ve found your perfect toothbrush, try not to get too attached. It’s going to be a three-month relationship at most. That’s right: the lifespan of a toothbrush is only about three months. After that, the bristles get worn out and start sticking out every which way, which makes it hard for them to effectively remove plaque and debris from the surfaces of your teeth. If your toothbrush looks fluffy like a feather duster (or Guy Fieri’s hair), it’s time to toss it.