You brush your teeth to remove plaque from your teeth. And this helps to prevent gum disease and tooth decay. I recommend that you brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day. So at night time and one other time during the day.

You can use an electric or a manual toothbrush, using the correct brushing technique. If you do use a manual toothbrush, it’s nice to use the bamboo brush ’cause it’s good for the environment. For children up to the age of eight.

We recommend that parents supervise their brushing ’cause they don’t have the correct manual dexterity to be able to brush their teeth correctly. Plaque disclosing tablets can also help you find areas that you’re missing when you are brushing.

And it dies the areas of plaque in a certain colour, so you can brush them away to aid good brushing. Use a fluoride age appropriate toothpaste. If you do brush your teeth do it at least 30 minutes after eating or drinking.

Using a manual toothbrush is completely fine. You can use a bamboo brush as well, if you want to. It’s a bit more eco friendly rather than the plastic ones. Electric toothbrushes can be a bit more efficient but with a manual toothbrush you can reach really good oral hygiene as well.

As long as you’re using the correct technique. We recommend that you use the bristles of your toothbrush and you come in at a 45 degree angle, to the actual gum margin and then you rotate the toothbrush so that you are removing all the debris from around the tooth.

So it’s a 45 degree angle, rotate it and that circular motion, and then you slowly sort of gradually move forward. Each tooth should be used properly about five rotations, just to make sure that you do have time to catch all the debris.

First of all recommend that you do the outside surfaces of the teeth. And then you go on to the bite surfaces, same thing in a rotational manner. As you can see, you want to try and get the bristles of the toothbrush to go into all the nooks and crannies of all the teeth.

And then the inside surfaces off the teeth. Same thing 45 degree angle. So always the bristles of the toothbrush are almost sort of poking right into the gum margins, removing any bits of debris that might even be underneath the joke on margins.

Circular motion, each tooth by time and then you gently move forward. You do it all the way to the front. I would recommend that you spend 30 seconds per quadrant. A quadrant is all the way from your front teeth to the back teeth on say the upper right hand side, then the upper left hand side, lower left and then the lower right.

So 30 seconds per quadrant would make it up to two minutes all together, brushing your teeth. And I recommend you do that twice a day, morning time and nighttime. If you don’t brush your teeth correctly, there is a chance that you can have gum disease or decay.

One of the ways that you can help yourself, is by getting an electric toothbrush. They’re really efficient at brushing your teeth. It takes a lot of pressure away from you in terms of the technique of brushing your teeth as well.

Because a lot of the movements are actually in the brush head. Electric toothbrushes can be more efficient because they have pressure sensors, they have timers and paces to help you brush your teeth correctly.

For example, you can break your mouth down into quadrants so you do each quadrant for 30 seconds and building up to four quadrants for two minutes. An electric toothbrush has a small circular head, this is the oral B and as you can see, it has a circular oscillating rotating movement like so.

This means that most of the movements you need to do is actually within the toothbrush head. So when we come to brush the teeth, all we need to do is put the bristles of the toothbrush at a 45 degree angle to the teeth and you just literally hold it next to the tooth.

It will then do all the work for you like this. You keep the toothbrush head on, and you brush each tooth for about three seconds. Moving forward, just keeping your toothbrush head at the same angle to the outsides of the teeth.

Remember, you don’t need to put this in a circular motion, the head will do it all for you on the outside teeth, and then you do them bite surfaces of the teeth. And then you do the inside surfaces of teeth.

Remember to make sure it still is a 45 degree angle, and it goes into those gum margins. Each take three seconds all the way to the front, and that is one quadrant done. It should take you 30 seconds for one quadrant, you need to do all four quadrants totaling up to two minutes.

This is a Sonicare toothbrush, it’s got a longer head to it like a conventional manual toothbrush, head shape. You used to a similar way you just hold it to the gum at 45 degrees. But with this one, you still have to rotate it and move it along the teeth.

So we recommend replacing your toothbrush heads or your manual toothbrushes every three months or sooner depending on the signs of wear on the toothbrush head. So if you look at the bristles of your toothbrush, if there and splayed out, if they’re worn out, disfigured.

Then we recommend sort of discarding that toothbrush head and having a new one. Carrying on using your old toothbrush head if it’s worn out, can be dangerous for your teeth because it won’t give you the optimum clean and it can be really abrasive for your teeth as well.

So be sure to replace your toothbrush head in a timely manner. One way of reminding yourself could be to mark it on your calendar. So mark every three months on your calendar when to change your toothbrush head.

Or you can get apps and reminders on your phone as well which can tell you when to change them. Some toothbrush heads actually have a fading reminder bristle within the toothbrush head. Some actual toothbrush handles can track your brushing and tell you when it’s the right time to start changing your toothbrush head.

Just be mindful of the environment when you’re getting rid of your toothbrush heads about plastics etcetera. So it’s good for you to be vigilant to monitor and have a good look at your toothbrush head yourself.

See if it’s fading if the bristles are wearing and replace it at an appropriate time for you. So what happens if you don’t brush your teeth? Skipping one brushing session, is not a major problem as long as you resume your normal brushing on the following days.

30% of Brits don’t brush their teeth the recommended two times a day. And 2% don’t even brush their teeth at all. If you continue not brushing your teeth, you’ll have a buildup of plaque, debris, food debris, calculus around your teeth.

Which will then lead to bleeding gums, tooth decay, bad breath and several other problems. For the patient who haven’t been brushing their teeth or they haven’t brushed their teeth for a few years. Essentially in the end, they may end up losing their teeth.

And they may have to go for things like dentures or implants. Fluoride is a chemical that helps you strengthen your teeth. It’s got lots of benefits for helping you prevent tooth decay and helping your teeth fight acid attacks and sugar attacks.

You might see it in your toothpaste named as Sodium Fluoride as Stannous fluoride, or Sodium Monofluorophosphate. It’s in a toothpaste because it can help to strengthen your teeth. Essentially Fluoride is a chemical integrates into your enamel structure of your teeth and helps you actually enamel become stronger.

Some people like to avoid Fluoride because there’s issues about health around it. But essentially as a dentist, we recommend that it is good for your teeth. There are different levels of fluoride recommended for adults and for children.

You can find out more information about this on the NHS website. Generally speaking, a pea sized amount of adult toothpaste is fine for adults. There are dedicated toothpaste for children to use. But you can use an adult toothpaste with just a tiny smear on the toothbrushes.

You can go for any toothpaste you want to whether it’s expensive or cheap as long as it’s got Fluoride in there. It can be confusing. There’s lots of different toothpaste on the market. So you can look at our link in the description for more information.

So there is a more environmentally friendly option to using your normal toothpaste which are toothpaste tablets. Essentially, these are little tablets, you bite down on them, crush them between your teeth.

The tablets mix with your saliva forming a paste and then you can brush your teeth with them like you would do normally. Bleeding gums are not normal. Lots of people think if they gums bleed, it doesn’t hurt them.

It’s not a problem. If your gums bleed, chances are you’ve got gum disease or gingivitis. Bleeding gums can be very common. your gums can bleed if they have red, swollen or inflamed. Gums bleed because they’ve not been cleaned very well over a period of time.

The way to prevent gum disease is to floss your teeth well, have a good oral hygiene regime and to brush your teeth. Lots of things that can affect gum disease things such as hormonal changes, not brushing your teeth properly, missing areas and leaving debris next to your gums and certain medication as well.

Things like smoking also affect your gums and can cause gum problems too. Interdental cleaning is when you clean the gaps in between your teeth. You find that you’ve got your teeth and between the two teeth you’ve got small gap in between each one.

That area is called the interdental area. So it’s really important to keep that area clean, because you can get food, debris, stains in between those areas of the teeth. Usually when you brush your teeth, the toothbrush bristles don’t go right in between the teeth.

So you either need to use floss or brushes to clean this interdental area. Lots of people avoid flossing their teeth because they believe that when they floss, their gums start bleeding. The truth is that gums are bleeding because you’re not flossing your teeth.

What happens is that bits of food and debris gets stuck in between your teeth in these interdental area, the area the gap in between your teeth and inflames your gums. So when your gums are inflamed, they bleed.

One way to stop your gums bleeding and stop your gum disease, is to floss and clean in between your teeth either with floss or with the right interdental brushes. If you start flossing for the first time, if you’ve not floss for a long period of time, you’re going to find that the gums in between your teeth are really inflamed ’cause you’ve not done it and you’ve got so much plaque and buildup of debris in between your teeth.

So when you first start flossing, you may be shocked because your gums will really, really start bleeding. But if you floss every day for two weeks, that’s the amount of time that your gums will then need to use your gums to heal and become healthy again.

And at the end of the two weeks, you’ll then find that your gums are no longer bleeding when you’re then flossing. Use floss in areas that are really tight or you can use brushes in areas that are sort of more gappy and bigger.

So this area in between your teeth, you can either have teeth are very close together, or you can have gums have receded up. In that case you’ve got a bigger area in between your teeth. So the floss won’t really remove all the bits of food and debris in between your teeth you need to use a brush.

If you go to your dentist your dentist will show you which brush is the best size ’cause you can get different size brushes depending on different size gaps in between your teeth. So your dentist can tell you which brush is best to use in between your teeth.

You should floss once a day before you brush your teeth. So when you floss, you’ll be removing all the debris from in between your teeth and then you can come along with your toothbrush and remove all that debris away.

So that the end you have nice clean teeth and gums. I do think flossing is quite technique sensitive. Whereas using the interdental brushes, lots of people find that a lot easier because you just literally need to put that in and out in between the gums.

But brushes don’t work for everybody ’cause if you’ve got really tight gaps, you’re not going to be able to fit the brushes in between your teeth. It’s only people with gaps that are large enough that, that would work for.

So when people try to floss their teeth, they don’t really know the correct technique for flossing their teeth. So they end up just sort of like jumping the floss up and down and they end up traumatising their gums.

So there is a correct technique as to how to your meant to floss your teeth. When you clean in between your teeth. You might find that when you remove the floss from in between your teeth. There’s some debris on there that you’ve removed.

If it’s a long string of floss, you then sort of move on to the next piece of clean floss to do your next bit of interdental cleaning. Or if it’s on a floss set or a handheld piece of floss, you can just wash that debris away.

So you’ve got cleaner floss to go on to the next tooth until you see the nice and clean at the end. So you can use the interdental brushes for up to a week each. But if they become splayed, broken, misshapen, then you discard them sooner than that.

So now there are some more environmentally friendly options for floss available, things like silk floss and bamboo floss that you can look into as well. This is just a broad broad overview for interdental cleaning.

And it’s best if you go to your own dentist or hygienist and they will make you a personalised plan as to which floss areas to floss and which areas to use interdental brushes on. That’s unique for your mouth.

The way that you use these, is that you place it in between your teeth. As you put an in between teeth, put it all the way through, but do you make sure that you don’t put the gum on the inside or your palate on the inside.

So you’ve got to orientate it through your tooth, and then press it along one side of the tooth, and then retract it back. Then you can give it a wash if you’ve got debris on it, reapply it into the same place, press it against the other side of the tooth and then retract it back.

In that way you’re cleaning both of the surfaces of the teeth. And you’ve got a nice clean area at the end. Generally speaking, you don’t have to lubricate these brushes with any mouthwash or toothpaste.

But if you go and see your hygienist or your dentist and they recommend otherwise, they might have some personal recommendations just for you. The technique that you can use when you floss, is to open your floss set up like say, remove about six inches worth and you just snip it off at the end.

Wrap it in between your fingers so that you’ve got about two inches worth of space in between your fingers. Essentially the smaller amount of space that you have here the better because when something’s really long, it’s hard to get inside your mouth.

So a nice small amount of floss in between about two inches. You then slide this down in between your teeth and you follow the contour of the tooth so it goes underneath your gum. You then slide it back out and remove all the debris out from in between that tooth surface.

You then go back down and then you go down the other tooth the adjacent tooth, follow the contour of the tooth and then bring it back up and then flick it out. You do this on all of your teeth go all the way around the mouth.

And at the end of doing this you then go over and brush your teeth so you’re removing all that debris away from your teeth and gums. Once you remove the debris from in between your teeth, you can move along to a fresh piece of floss so that you’re not reintroducing the same debris back into that tooth surface area.

Dentists recommend that to floss at least once a day and you floss before you brush your teeth. This is so you can remove the debris away from your gums and then it can be brushed away at the end. You can floss it all ages so you can start quite young so you get into the habit of flossing.

So essentially, as soon as you’ve sort of eight or nine years old, you’ve got some adult teeth in there you can start flossing. And you should floss your teeth all the way through to an adult. To floss your teeth you need two teeth next to each other.

So if you’ve got a tooth which is standalone, really don’t really need to floss that tooth because you’ve got enough access all the way around to be able to brush it well. You could also use something called a water flosser.

So this is almost like an electric flosser. You have a tank of water that’s held within this flossing equipment and you hold it right next to your gums, and a jet of water and jets in between your teeth and it removes all the debris and all the bits of food left next to your gums.

Once you’re sort of moving that jet of water around your gums. So that’s another really good way of cleaning your teeth without using all the plastics that come with the flossing and the floss sets. So if you have a really good oral hygiene routine, you don’t necessarily need to use a mouthwash.

If you do decide to use a mouthwash. It’s generally good to use one with fluoride in there. When you use your mouthwash try not to use it straight after brushing your teeth. Once you brush your teeth with toothpaste, spit out don’t rinse out and leave that toothpaste contacting your teeth for a long period of time.

So if you want to use your mouthwash leave at least half an hour before you decide to use a mouthwash. Is generally good advice to use your mouth wash at separate times when you brush your teeth. So you don’t necessarily need to use a premium mouthwash.

Any mouthwash with Fluoride will do. There are some mouthwash washes that contain alcohol, and some that are specialised for gum care or for dry mouth. So depending on which condition you have, it may be good to go and see your dentist, you might be able to recommend you the correct mouthwash to use.

When you brush your teeth with toothpaste, be sure to spit out your toothpaste but not to rinse your mouth afterwards. The toothpaste has to have contact with your tooth over a long period of time for it to work and for the chemicals inside the toothpaste to actually have the benefits.

Make sure that you don’t use mouthwash straight after as well. You can use mouthwash but at a different time to brushing your teeth. This way you get the best benefits from your toothpaste and mouthwash.

So when you rinse your mouth after using your toothpaste, you’re actually removing the fluoride and you’re actually like removing all the goodness of the toothpaste away from your mouth. So if you don’t rinse your mouth out and you just spit the excess toothpaste out and you leave the rest of the toothpaste in contact with your teeth, you’ll have greater benefits from using that toothpaste.

After you’ve brushed your teeth, try and leave it at least half an hour before you have anything to eat or drink. That way, you’ve got the best chance of the toothpaste having a good effect on your teeth.

The other thing I’d recommend is that, if you brush your teeth at nighttime, try and brush it last thing at night. So you then just go straight to bed. So you don’t have anything to eat or drink afterwards.

That way you’ve left the toothpaste contacting your teeth for the longest period of time. Diet is also really important in looking after your teeth. Things such as acids and sugars that you should try and reduce because they can be very harmful for your teeth.

Even natural acids and sugars such as those in oranges can be damaging ’cause oranges can be very high in natural sugars and natural acids. Which can then erode the surfaces of your teeth. It’s best to have everything in moderation and have a healthy balanced diet.

Things such as apples, celery sticks and cheeses can be natural palate cleansers and help to cleanse your mouth in between meals and things. You should try and avoid snacking too much ’cause lots of snacks can also be an extra sugar acid attacks inside your mouth and then reduce the pH of your mouth allowing decay and other problems in your teeth as well.

Even things such as smoking and alcohol are very damaging to your teeth. When you smoke you can have discoloration of your teeth, stains, bad breath and cause gum disease and problems within the inside of your mouth as well.

Alcohol can also damage the inside surfaces of your teeth and be damaging on your actual enamel surfaces as well. So please be aware to have all these things. In moderation and have a healthy balanced diet.

When you have a look at your diet the other thing that can cause problems your teeth, is things that stain your teeth such as red wines and curries. And these can very quickly make your teeth look quite yellow.

So try and avoid these foods if you want a nice healthy smile. I also recommend drinking plenty of water. Water is really good for you naturally hydrating and it doesn’t damage your teeth at all. So drink plenty of water.

It’s really good for you and it’s really good for your mouth as well. It’s really important to have a good oral hygiene routine. We recommend brushing your teeth twice a day. So definitely at nighttime last thing at night before you go to sleep, and one other time during the day.

If you’re not used to brushing your teeth twice a day, it may be a good idea to try and set yourself some goals and some rewards at the end. Perhaps you can set yourself a goal to try and brush your teeth twice a day for two weeks.

And at the end of the two weeks, give yourself some sort of reward. Try and start early with your children if they start brushing their teeth twice a day, from a very young age, they’ll never know any different and so they’ll always know this is the normal thing to do.

With young children, you can get stickers and charts to help to encourage them to brush their teeth twice a day as well. Things such as electric toothbrushes, and other apps and timers can help you keep a log of how you’re brushing your teeth.

And make sure that you’re sort of on track with your tooth brushing as well. As part of a good oral care routine. Also, make sure you floss your teeth at least once a day. Replace your toothbrush regularly every three months or sooner if you see signs of wear sooner.

And do go and visit your dentist regularly as well, to help to maintain healthy teeth and gums. Going to see your dentist regularly may not be on the top of your list of priorities. However, it may prevent longterm costs pain and problems.

And if you put it off, it may actually end up costing you more to rectify a problem, than it would have done if you went to the dentist regularly and prevented any problems and had your teeth regularly checked.

If you haven’t been for a long time. Don’t worry, don’t be anxious to be nervous. The dental team will be used to seeing people like yourself and we welcome all patients to come and see the dentist. The interval in which you needs to go and see the dentist, is different for different people.

If you have certain problems, you may need to go more often than some other people but don’t worry, your dentist will let you know, how often you need to attend. NHS dental services are available for most people.

And it’s good to go regularly to help prevent any future disease or if you have a problem, you may not realise it and it will help you to fix that problem and prevent it getting much worse in the future.

This in turn helps to prevent things like pain, tooth aches and abscesses. Even if you don’t have teeth and you wear dentures, it’s still important that you go and visit your dentist. Your dentist will check the inside of your mouth and look for any ulcers or any rashes that you may have underneath your dentures.

Another reason to go to your dentist and maybe if you have loose teeth if you have red gums, non healing ulcers, or pain, broken teeth or any other problems such as that. You’ll be able to go to your dentist, they’ll be able to look at these problems and help you fix these problems.

So you have a healthier mouth and you feel more comfortable with your teeth. So please go and visit your dentist. Here are some common mistakes that people make when they’re brushing their teeth. People don’t brush for long enough.

Most people actually only brush for 45 seconds. Actually you meant to brush for two minutes twice a day. Some people brush too often, so they brush for too long and this can actually be damaging for your teeth.

Some people brush their teeth too soon after eating. It’s best to leave at least half an hour before brushing your teeth. People can brush with too much pressure and again, this can wear your teeth away rather than actually cleaning them.

People don’t brush with the right technique. So they’re not removing the maximum amount of plaque and debris away from their teeth. People use a toothbrush that is too old. You should replace your toothbrush or your toothbrush head every three months.

Or if you look at the bristles on your toothbrush when they’re worn away, disfigured, or splayed. Some people use a hard bristled toothbrush. This can be damaging for your teeth as it can brush your tooth surfaces too hard and actually brush them away.

People can use too much toothpaste on the toothbrushes. Is best to use a pea sized amount of toothpaste on your toothbrush. People rinse after brushing it’s important to spit, not rinse so the toothpaste has maximum contact time with your teeth.

People forget to floss you must floss at least once a day before brushing. People forget to clean their tongue. Your tongue is very important to clean, ’cause it holds a lot of debris. And it can help with fresher breath as well.

People eat too much of the wrong foods. Sometimes it can be confusing, because there are natural fruits that can be healthy, that you think are healthy, but are high in sugar and acid. People don’t visit the dentist regularly enough, they may think that they don’t have any pain or any problems with your teeth.

But if you visit your dentist, you can be sure and they can highlight any underlying problems that you might have. People are seeing they’re too old for braces. There are lots of brace systems available now, that are available to adults.

And certainly, once you are working, it may be a lot easier to be able to pay for braces. People chew only on one side of the mouth. It’s important to use both sides evenly to chew your food as this will help your jaw and prevent any pain in your jaw joints as well.

People don’t teach their children to take care of their teeth very early on. It’s important to learn the skill quite early on. If you teach your children to brush your teeth twice a day, from a young age, they’ll never know any different and they’ll always have good teeth.

People use plastic brushes. There are other options available that are more environmentally friendly these days, such as bamboo brushes. For good oral hygiene, make sure that you brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes using a Fluoride toothpaste.

Spit it out, don’t rinse it out and clean in between your teeth as well. Either with floss, interdental brushes or an electric flosser. The other thing you can do, is look at your diet try and reduce your sugar and acid intake, as well as look at your habits.

So smoking and alcohol also affect your teeth. Do you visit your dentist regularly as well, for your checkups.

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