What is Oral hygiene? This is the practice of keeping one's mouth clean and free of disease and other problems( e.g., bad breath or halitosis) by regular brushing of the teeth, cleaning of the tongue, flossing, eating healthy food and visiting your dentist two times in a year. Since our mouth is a path-way into the body, we should be mindful of what goes into the mouth and it has to be kept clean and healthy at all times to avoid getting sick. Today we are going to talk about toothbrush.

What is toothbrushing? Toothbrushing is the action of using toothbrush equipped with toothpaste to scrub the teeth. Let me start by asking, did you brush your teeth today? How many times do you brush your teeth daily? What kind of bristle has your toothbrush? What technique do you use to brush your teeth? How long does it take you to brush your teeth? We will talk about all that, so join me.

Choosing your toothbrush bristle

What type of toothbrush bristle do you think is suitable for your teeth? Do you always use hard toothbrush because you believe it will remove the stains on your teeth? Now join me and take note of the type of toothbrush bristle you should use.

There are 3 different toothbrush bristle;

1. Soft bristle:- This type of bristle easily removes plaque from the tooth surface without damaging your tooth enamel or gum. Dentist always recommend this type of bristle for children, people recovering from a dental procedure, people with sensitive teeth or gum.
2. Medium bristle:- It should be used by adults with healthy teeth and gum. It removes plaque so easily and it does not inflict injury on the gum as long as you follow the right toothbrushing technique.
3. Hard bristle:- This is recommended by the dentist for people that wear dentures. It should not be use on a normal human teeth because it can wear away the enamel and also cause severe injury to the gum.

Toothbrushing technique

1. Place your toothbrush at 45 degree angle to the gum.
2. Gently move the brush back and forth in a short(tooth-wide) strokes.
3. Brush the outer surfaces, inner surfaces, and chewing surfaces of the teeth.
4. To clean the inside surface of the front teeth, tilt the brush vertically and make several up-and-down strokes.
5. Be sure to brush your tongue to remove odor-causing bacteria.

NOTE: 

• You should take your time while brushing your teeth so as to brush every surface of the teeth appropriately, there is no need to rush it. You should brush your teeth for at least two minutes.
• Your toothbrush should be changed every 3 to 4 months. it is not advisable to use a toothbrush for more than 4 months.
• If your toothbrush wears out before 3 months of using it, get another new toothbrush because a worn out toothbrush won't do a good job of cleaning the teeth properly.  
• How many times do you brush your teeth daily? Your teeth should be brushed two times daily. That is, in the morning after you have had your breakfast and at night, last thing you have to do before you go to bed.