The Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

Has your dentist been recommending that you switch to an electric toothbrush, but you don't want to spend the money on it? If so, it helps to know why an electric toothbrush will be so much better for your oral health when compared to a regular toothbrush.

Timers

Do you brush your teeth for a full two minutes each day? If you think you do, consider timing yourself and seeing how long you brush. Chances are that two minutes is a lot longer than you think it is when you actually get out the stopwatch and count the seconds. While you can get a timer to start whenever you brush your teeth, it is likely something that you'll do for a week and then forget about.

The nice perk of having an electric toothbrush is that a timer is built into it. Not only will it let you know when you've brushed for a full two minutes, but it will give you reminders about when to brush a different part of your mouth. Electric toothbrushes typically have notifications every 20 or 30 seconds so that you know when to switch to a different area.

Dexterity Compensation

Some people simply do not have the dexterity that is necessary to brush their teeth. They'll be moving the brush around or the full two minutes, but won't really be doing that much to keep their teeth clean. This is especially true for young children that will not be brushing as well as they can, or older adults that are having problems with arthritis and simply gripping the toothbrush.

An electric toothbrush is going to do all of the movement for you, so you just need to move it gently across your teeth while it does all of the work. When you combine this with the thousands of additional strokes that it can provide, you'll end up with a cleaner mouth every time you brush.

Reminders

Most people don't change out their toothbrush as often as they should, and end up with bristles that are ineffective or growing bacteria on them. An electric toothbrush can even give you a reminder of when it is time to change the brush head with a new one. The purpose of the reminders is not to sell you more brushes, but to prevent you from using a toothbrush that can be ineffective at getting your teeth clean.

Ask your dentist for more reasons why an electric toothbrush is a great choice.