About electric toothbrushes, you may not know these

With the increasing living standards of the people, more and more people start to pay attention to oral health. In clinical work, when teaching patients about oral hygiene, many people have the question: Can brushing teeth with an electric toothbrush be cleaner? Can children use electric toothbrushes?

What are the advantages of an electric toothbrush?

There are a wide variety of brands and styles of electric toothbrushes available in the market. The general classification of electric toothbrushes can be divided into square and diamond-shaped according to the shape of the brush head; according to the arrangement of the bristles, it can be divided into flat, wave-shaped and V-shaped bristle toothbrushes; Hard bristle toothbrush; according to the handle, it can be divided into straight handle, crank, elastic, non-slip handle toothbrush.

How does an electric toothbrush work?

Under the tall appearance of the electric toothbrush, there is actually a small electric motor hidden. Driven by electricity, the brush head rotates or vibrates to clean the teeth. From the working principle, there are two types of electric toothbrushes: rotary electric toothbrushes and vibrating electric toothbrushes. The bristles of the former are arranged in a circular shape, which enhances the friction effect. This type of toothbrush usually cleans the tooth surface very clean, but it also wears the teeth more, and the noise is also louder. The vibration type is also called the sonic vibration type electric toothbrush. When using it, the brush head swings at high frequency perpendicular to the brush handle, and the swing range is generally not higher than 6 mm.

To sum it up: When brushing your teeth with an electric toothbrush, on the one hand, the high-frequency oscillating brush head can efficiently complete the brushing action, and on the other hand, the sound wave vibration also creates a super-fluid cleaning force between the mouth and teeth, which can deeply clean the dead corners of the mouth that are difficult to enter, compared with manual toothbrushes Remove plaque more effectively.

Are electric toothbrushes more effective than regular toothbrushes?

Some brands of electric toothbrushes provide multiple brushing modes such as whitening, polishing, gum care, sensitive, and cleaning. So are these functions useful? In fact, the first task of a toothbrush is to brush your teeth! Studies have shown that electric toothbrushes can remove 38% more plaque than manual toothbrushes, but some studies have also found that as long as the brushing method is correct and the correct Pap brushing method is used, the effect of electric toothbrushes and manual toothbrushes on cleaning teeth is equivalent. The biggest advantage of the electric toothbrush is that it simplifies the skills and process of doing it yourself, improves the efficiency of brushing teeth, shortens the time of brushing teeth, ensures the convenience and efficiency of brushing teeth, and achieves twice the result with half the effort. Therefore, some people jokingly call electric toothbrushes "the magic tool for lazy people to brush their teeth".

Can children use electric toothbrushes?

Many brand manufacturers have launched special electric toothbrushes for children, which are very popular among children because of their cute appearance. However, due to the fast speed of electric toothbrushes, high vibration frequency and relatively fixed strength, if used improperly, it will cause damage to teeth and gums.

Therefore, it is suggested that before children enter elementary school, the development of the cerebellum is immature, the small muscles of the hands are still under development, and the grasp of fine movements is not enough. For delicate tasks such as brushing teeth, it is recommended to clean the oral cavity with a manual toothbrush.

After elementary school, you can use a special electric toothbrush for children.