4 Important Reasons to Follow a Set Toothbrushing Routine
Everyone should already know the importance of brushing their teeth – doing so prevents everything from bad breath to tooth decay, which is why it's considered the most important part of your oral health care routine. However, many people brush their teeth a different way each day. Instead, it's actually beneficial to keep to a set toothbrushing routine where your brush follows the same path each time; for example, you might go upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right.
That might sound like an odd idea at first, but here are just four ways it can improve your oral health.
1. Keeps to a Good Time
Firstly, following more of a set routine while brushing your teeth means you won't be as tempted to get the job done as fast as possible. Plenty of people simply grab their toothbrush, apply toothpaste and then zip around their mouth in under a minute – that's better than nothing, but it certainly isn't optimal. When following a routine, you'll be more conscious of the need to cover each area properly.
2. Avoids Missing Key Areas
There are certain areas of your mouth that are easier to reach than others. For example, it's much easier to brush the front of your front teeth than it is to reach the back of your back teeth. As such, hard-to-reach areas are often cleaned poorly, leading to decay. When you brush in a set routine, you'll make sure every tooth is covered.
3. Prevents Overbrushing
You might appreciate the pitfalls of failing to brush part of your teeth, but you might not know about the dangers of overbrushing. When you spend too much time on any one area, you risk wearing away tooth enamel. This often happens when people don't follow a set routine – instead of moving properly around the mouth, they spend most of their two-minute brushing time concentrating on those areas that are easier to reach. By following a set routine, you make sure no teeth are overbrushed.
4. Sharpens Your Technique
Finally, following a set routine simply makes you a better brusher. Plenty of people zone out when they start to brush their teeth, so they fail to concentrate on things like how hard they're pressing down and what angle they are holding their toothbrush at. When you're concentrating on how your toothbrush moves around different sections of your mouth, you'll also be conscious of how well you're cleaning them.
For more information, talk to your local dentist.
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