It has been said over and over again that the best practice is to brush your teeth twice daily; in the morning preferably after a meal and at night just before you go to bed. If you brush at night, you can have a meal in the morning before you brush; for those of you who don’t feel fresh perhaps you can use mouthwash, eat and then brush afterward. For those who don’t eat before you leave the house, brush before you leave the house!!!

Don’t Ever Leave Home without Brushing your teeth

Brushing at night is never an excuse for not brushing in the morning; if you brush before your meal always try to rinse out well with water afterwards. The reason behind brushing after meal is simple, brushing is meant to take out the dirt, and food remnants from the mouth to leave nothing for bacteria to work on. Would it be better done before or after?

Especially at night when you sleep, for 4/6/8 hours there’s reduced salivary flow (which helps better to clean the mouth) and reduced activity. If there are food remnants in the mouth, or stuck in between teeth, that’s ample time for bacteria to come and feast on the left over and this can cause tooth destruction.

A funny reminder to remind you why you brush….”Brush in the morning to keep your friends… but brush at night to keep your teeth”.

Use a Medium Bristled Toothbrush

Getting it right is paramount; there are so many kinds of brushes out there soft, medium, and hard. For children the recommendation is a soft bristled brush while for adult it is a medium bristled brush. Hard brushes are prone to damaging your gum, root surface and even your protective enamel leading to uncomfortable discomforting sensitivity.

The work of cleaning of the teeth is done by the brush, in conjunction with your toothpaste but mainly by the toothbrush. Therefore getting the right brush is important, while been medium, the brush should have a good gripping handle and a narrow enough head to be able to get into all corners of the mouth.

Change your brush every 3 months: – Remember to always change your brush every 3 months or once the bristles begin to flare whichever one comes first.

Use a Fluoride Toothpaste to brush your teeth

Using fluoride toothpaste is a very essential part of oral hygiene; the outer most covering of the tooth (the enamel) is very hard. However it is porous and as such bacteria can produce acids that can pass through and break it down. Fluoride essentially reduces the breakdown of enamel by strengthening the tooth structures and making it less susceptible to breakdown and decay. Fluoride also increase tooth remineralization and inhibits the bacteria cycle, all these and many more reasons make fluoride an extremely essential part of your toothpaste. A lot of people also apply toothpaste to cover the entire surface of the brush, this amount to wastage. The amount needed is just a pea (or groundnut) size for adults and for children just a smear would do. If you follow these guides you wouldn’t need to buy toothpaste again as often as you use to previously.