Dental Health Dental Health Procedures

Brushing Your Teeth the Right Way

Summary & Participants

We all know it's important to brush our teeth regularly, but do you know the right way to do it?

Medically Reviewed On: August 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Brushing your teeth - it’s not just doing it that counts, but how you do it.

STEPHEN TYMPANICK, DDS: Most people are brushing too hard and they do it too fast and they do it for too-short period of time and so they're missing areas.

ANNOUNCER: So what is the right way to brush your teeth?

DENTAL TECHNICIAN: You want to brush your gums, your teeth and your tongue when you’re cleaning your mouth. You place the brush not straight on the teeth, but down into the gums at a 45 degree angle and go in a circle for about 8-10 strokes, then move it. When you want to go back and forth the only areas where you go is on the chewing surfaces and this is only the back-and-forth motion. Then you go back inside your mouth at a 45 degree angle, bristles are angled in towards the gum tissue, go in a circular motion to get the front of your mouth, and behind in the back, you want to use the tip of the brush and you want to make sure you’re pushing the tip of the brush far enough up that you hit the gum tissue, the you go downward. You want to make sure you get the whole tooth and you feel the bristles on the gums.

ANNOUNCER: Brushing long enough is also key.

STEPHEN TYMPANICK, DDS: Two minutes and -- and I guarantee you that, if you get someone who's -- who's gonna brush themselves and they put a timer down and they start the timer, two minutes, they'll be going crazy, that, you know, they can't believe how long two minutes is when they're brushing, 'cause they've probably done it for like ten, twenty, thirty seconds at the most.

ANNOUNCER: Of course, be sure to visit your dentist for regular checkups.

STEPHEN TYMPANICK, DDS: You need to professionally have the plaque removed and not just for the gums, but also checking the teeth to make sure that there isn't something developing.

ANNOUNCER: And that’s your brush-up on today’s Once Daily!