Asklemmy

43855 readers

2247 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Why do dentists always recommend to brush 2 times for 2-3 minutes? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

49 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I almost always read in the news/press that dentists recommend to brush teeth two times a day for 2-3 minutes.

This drives me crazy, because it does not make sense; The point for dental health is to systematical clean every surface of your teeth twice a day (and use inter-dental brushes/floss once a day). For me, brushing my teeth takes around 6 minutes, if I hurry up. For someone faster it might be possible in 1 minute.

So, why do dentists always give the 2-3 minutes recommendation?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I think it's an average estimate, not a hard rule.

The exact time doesn't matter, but it's an approximate reference for how long you could aim for

some people don't brush enough
some people brush too much (harms enamel and damages gums)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

In a sense, I guess op is right though — I recently read that ~70% of people in a study were brushing ineffectively, no matter how long they were told to brush. Their brushing only improved after being told to make sure to brush every every "sector" of their teeth.

[–] grabyourmotherskeys 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

When I was growing up they used to say "brush after every meal" and then it became three times per day, now it's "please just brush twice at some point".

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I also got the 'brush after every contact with sugar' thingy.

The common agreement nowadays seems to be twice a day and the points are very clear: before you go to bed and soon after getting up in the morning, to bring some fluid to the nasty bacteria, remove their food and plaque from your teeth.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Please wait at least 30 mins before brushing after sugary and especially acidic things.

[–] Touching_Grass 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Acid is still fresh on your teeth and you're just scraping it into the enamel breaking it down. You should wait or at least swish some water around.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

You're right. When I grew up, I was told to brush three times as well, more I brush twice only. Not sure when or why that recommendation changed.