How Often Should You Change Your Toothbrush?
One of the most important and fundamental things to get right in your dental health and hygiene regime, is knowing when to change your toothbrush in order to ensure that your brushing remains effective and continues to do the job of cleaning your teeth to the required standard. Cleaning your teeth is one of the really key activities that determines how well you maintain healthy teeth and gums, and it’s the only thing that you are required to do daily, along with flossing, to look after your teeth – meaning that it’s something you simply have to get right. With this in mind, we thought we’d run down the most important things to consider with regards to your toothbrush and your daily dental hygiene, read on to find out exactly what you should be doing.
When you should get a new toothbrush
You need to be changing your toothbrush roughly about every 3 months. This will ensure that your toothbrush remains fully functional and continues to clean your teeth thoroughly in the way that it was intended. Having said that, there are some other considerations that might mean you should change your toothbrush sooner than the generally recommended 3 month period. One of these is if you have been sick – it’s a good idea to throw away the toothbrush that you were using to clean your teeth if you have had some kind of virus or bug that would have spread excess germs or disease throughout your mouth region. This could mean that not only has your toothbrush become infected, but as most people store the whole family’s toothbrushes right next to each other in a brush container – other brushes might have become infected too! So be sure to replace your toothbrush sooner if you have been under the weather and feeling poorly.
What are the signs that my toothbrush needs replacing?
Obviously as you should be brushing your teeth 2-3 times daily, you can perform a quick visual assessment of the condition of your toothbrush each day, and there are obvious signs to look out for that your toothbrush needs to be changed. Look for frayed bristles on the toothbrush – as soon as this starts to happen, the toothbrush won’t clean your teeth as well, so it’s time to start thinking about replacing it with a new one. Note that the amount of time that tends to expire before a toothbrush needs to be replaced can vary from person to person – for example, children tend to brush more vigorously than adults, so often a child’s toothbrush will wear out more quickly and therefore need to be changed sooner than every 3 months.
What type of toothbrush should I be using?
Obviously as soon as it’s time for you to replace your toothbrush, you have lots of choice as to exactly which brand and type to opt for, and the costs of various brushes can vary enormously. As a general guide, there are 2 distinct types of brushes that you can choose between – manual and electric.
Advantages of manual toothbrushes
In terms of advantages and disadvantages of each, with a manual toothbrush, there are some practical advantages such as the fact that it’s ready to go no matter what, as it doesn’t require any form of charging or powering up, and also it is of course a quieter way of brushing your teeth compared to the buzz of an electric toothbrush whilst you are using it! A manual toothbrush is also typically lighter and more portable than an electric toothbrush, and this is a particular consideration if you tend to travel a lot and therefore need to pack lightly and limit the overall weight of your luggage. A manual toothbrush also enables you to administer a bit more of a personal variation as to the amount of pressure that is put on your teeth and gums when cleaning your teeth – whereas an electric toothbrush tends to control this a bit more, which can of course be a good thing.
Advantages of electric toothbrushes
Having said that, there are some significant advantages to using an electric toothbrush – for example, the constant rotating movement of the bristles whilst brushing means that they tend to clean better between your teeth and gum-line, and going back to what was mentioned earlier, many electric toothbrushes these days have sensors built into them which make sure that you don’t press too hard and apply too much pressure to your teeth and gums whilst brushing, and as an added advantage they often time the brushing and let you know once you have been cleaning your teeth for the right amount of time.
If you would like to replace your current toothbrush with an electric one, we have a range of high-performance electric toothbrushes that are available to purchase online – https://simplyteethbrushes.co.uk/
How to maintain your toothbrush properly
Whichever type of toothbrush you go for, and no matter how long you choose to leave it before you replace your toothbrush for a new one, there are some regular things that you should be doing to keep your toothbrush in the best possible condition all the time that you are using it.
Make sure for example that you always keep your toothbrush as clean as possible at all times – this means running it under water every time that you use it, to rinse off any excess toothpaste and saliva from the brush, and also it’s important to make sure that you store the toothbrush in a vertical position when not being used, so that the bristles of the toothbrush are free to air dry as quickly as possible after use.
As a further important point regarding storage of your toothbrush, try and avoid keeping it concealed in any sort of closed container or tray, as this can cause unnecessary bacteria and germs to build up on the brush.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s a fair few things to consider when trying to ensure that your toothbrush and the way in which you are using it, is as effective as possible, but we hope that this blog post has clarified the main issues and considerations for you surrounding the question – ‘how often should you change your toothbrush?’, and provided some useful advice and guidance to assist you and your family. So remember as a general overview of what you should be doing – remember to replace your toothbrush at least every 3 months, and ensure you store it in the correct manner for optimum health and hygiene – then perhaps try out an electric toothbrush if you haven’t yet done so, to see which type of brush is your personal preference and seems to work the best for you. Happy brushing! Visit: https://simplyteethessex.co.uk/how-often-should-you-change-your-toothbrush/
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