7 steps to brushing your teeth

With random brushing you will probably clean some areas really well but you will also miss areas on a regular basis. It’s hard to change habits but give this method a try if you are keen to brush effectively.

16 November 2024

Start with a small amount of toothpaste on the brush.
You need to get to every surface, so think of a circuit that covers all the teeth, maybe starting top right and moving methodically around to the top left then bottom left around to bottom right.
Brush where your gums meet your teeth (gum margin) aiming the bristles of the brush up in to the groove between the gum and the tooth.
Now use little gentle scrubbing movements back and forth. If you have an electric toothbrush let that do the movement. Move slowly around the circuit you thought of. Move from the very back top right, all the way around to top left at the back not missing any teeth. Then hop down to bottom left (right at the very back) and trace all the way around to bottom right.
The start of the circuit could be at the very back of the mouth on the right side (sometimes reaching right to the back is easier of you close your mouth slightly).
Start the circuit again right at the back on the right side but this time brush the side of the tooth that the tongue touches. (the ‘lingual side’). Move from right at the back on the right side past the eye teeth and the front teeth to the upper left right to the back. Then hop to the bottom teeth on the left and finish the circuit round to the bottom right.
That is it! 2 minutes! If you want to go around and brush the biting surfaces of the teeth then you can but this is less important.