Why do we need Dry Tooth Brushing?
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Is it right to brush our teeth without toothpaste?
Yes. Dentists suggest that you can add it as a part of your oral hygiene because it can effectively reduce the plaque and tartar built up on our teeth.
American Dental Association has revealed after a dental examination that brushing without toothpaste reduces plaque build-up by 63% and gum bleeding by 55%.
What is Dry Tooth Brushing?
As the name suggests, dry tooth brushing is the practice of brushing your teeth with a toothbrush alone. You don’t need to make it wet or apply toothpaste on your brush.
If you want, add a little water to your brush to soften the bristles. The saliva present in the mouth will make the brush moist when you brush.
The result you obtain with dry tooth brushing is the same in an electric toothbrush as well as a manual toothbrush.
What are the benefits of Dry Tooth Brushing?
To say simply, this approach helps you to identify the problem areas in your gum lines and teeth.
Ingredients like glycerin and oils present in toothpaste provide a smooth coating on our teeth after brushing. Similarly, you feel the fresh minty taste with your toothbrush. The fresh taste in our mouth and a creamy layer on teeth make us believe that our mouth is clean and fresh but it is not clean as we think.
In cases, the foam produced due to the elements in toothpaste prevent your brush from reaching the teeth in the deeper region of your mouth.
If you brush your teeth without toothpaste, your teeth and tongue will not explore the ingredients. This will help you to easily locate the problem areas and analyze how fresh your mouth actually is.
Things to keep in mind for dry tooth brushing
- Avoid toothbrush which contains rough or hard bristles because they may wear down your teeth enamel.
- Brush your teeth by placing the toothbrush at 45 degrees towards the gum line. This will help you to clean your teeth and gums at a time.
- Don’t forget to replace your toothbrush once every 3 months. Avoid brushing with a toothbrush that has fade bristles.
- Similar to front surfaces of teeth, brush efficiently at inner surfaces of the teeth especially lower inside arch of the lower jaw. This is because it is the area where plaque build-up occurs fast.
- It is important to brush your teeth for a minimum of 2 minutes a day.
We suggest toothpaste contain fluoride to clean your teeth. Fluoride is the powerful mineral that is effective to strengthen our teeth enamel. Unlike fluoride, chemical components and other ingredients in toothpaste are efficient to make our mouth fresh alone.
Hence it is important to switch to other brushing techniques like dry tooth brushing to keep our mouth clean.
Brushing is only a part of our dental hygiene routine to extract bacteria in our mouth. It is essential to do flossing and tongue cleaning to make our mouth germs free. Prefer Professional Teeth Cleaning at regular intervals at dental offices to assure the cleanliness of your teeth.
