toothbrushes-225x300Brushing your teeth is incredibly important, but technique and the type of toothbrush you use can have a big influence on whether or not it’s doing the right type of job for your teeth.

The best type of toothbrush to use is either a soft or medium bristled one. A lot of people immediately pick up a hard bristle toothbrush because they assume it’s going to clean their teeth much more effectively. After all, if you have to purchase a brush to clean tile or countertop, you’re going to choose one that has the hardest possible bristles, unless you’re cleaning a surface that can be easily scratched.

So wouldn’t it stand to reason that a hard bristled toothbrush is best?

No. The reality is that a hard bristled toothbrush will begin to wear down the enamel on your teeth. The enamel is the protective coating on your teeth. If you lose the enamel, then your teeth are going to be exposed to cavities and a lot of other damage.

The same holds true with using a medium bristled toothbrush and brushing so vigorously that you erode the enamel on those teeth. The best way to brush and protect your teeth is to rely on a soft to medium bristled toothbrush, brush in a circular motion with somewhat gentle pressure and do that for at least 30 seconds for every one quarter of your mouth.

So, you should be brushing your teeth for two full minutes every single night, giving each quadrant an equal amount of brushing time. If you have a hard bristled toothbrush right now, even if you just purchased it and it cost you several dollars, throw that thing in the garbage or use it for cleaning the toilet or some other surfaces, go out and get yourself a new one that is either soft or, at the worst, medium bristled.