First, I learned that you’re meant to floss your teeth far deeper than I realised.
Then, I found out you should wait for at least half an hour after using mouthwash to eat or drink and avoid using it after brushing your teeth.
Speaking of which, my dentist casually dropped into conversation that the floss picks I’d relied on for years weren’t anything like as effective as the string kinds.
All of which is to say: I’m used to having my understanding of dental hygiene challenged.
But even I was not prepared to learn that I’ve been using electric toothbrushes completely, fundamentally wrong for years ― and so has everyone I’ve asked about it since.
How are you meant to use an electric toothbrush?
Folks, we are not meant to scrub.
It’s not even really advised that we “brush” backwards and forwards.
According to Oral-B, you’re simply meant to place their oscillating heads against your teeth at a 45-degree angle and hold it there for three seconds on each surface of the tooth.
No up-down, side-to-side, or all-around motion ― we’re just meant to let the head do its work.
And in case you thought that was brand-specific advice, dental hygienist Krysta Ambruson confirmed the advice on TikTok too.
In her video, she said: “so many people use their electric toothbrush like it’s manual toothbrush, and they can do more harm than good.”
She continues, “you want to angle this at a 45-degree angle towards your gums” and then “drag [the head] along each tooth”, moving across the four quadrants of your mouth.
“Please do not scrub with your electric toothbrush,” she ended her video.
Is it bad to scrub with an electric toothbrush?
If you’ve been scrubbing for years (like me), a Reddit thread posted to r/Dentistry might make you feel better: “If I didn’t scrub it just wouldn’t feel like I was cleaning anything at all. Has this been clinically proven to clean better?” site user u/kreamykthesecond asked.
A comment underneath the question suggested that scrubbing too much with the brush, or too hard, can wear away your enamel and gums.
Toothbrush manufacturer Philips agrees, saying “brush head bristles are designed to reach between your teeth, and pressing too hard actually mashes them, rendering them incapable of doing their intended job.”
They add, “Aggressive scrubbing... can cause uncomfortable gum irritation and even permanent damage” (under their section titled, “do not scrub!”).
Yep, it seems like the dental experts of the world are pretty united on this one...