Why Should You Make Sure Your Electric Toothbrush Includes an Inbuilt Timer?

You should really pick up an electric toothbrush. They offer a number of advantages over the traditional manual toothbrush, including the availability of several features to make sure you brush better. Some of these are on the expensive side, such as toothbrushes that link to your smartphone and correct the way you hold your toothbrush, but almost all electric toothbrushes now come with inbuilt timers. These will vibrate lightly every 30 seconds and then again more noticeably 2 minutes after the toothbrush was turned on.

So, why should you make sure you next toothbrush includes one of these timers?

Balances Your Brushing

For the sake of convenience, dentists split your teeth into four quadrants: upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right. You should really be spending 30 seconds on each area to achieve a proper clean.

The problem is that most people spend more time at the front—these teeth are easier to reach, and the fact that they are more visible than teeth at the back makes people want to give them special attention. However, all teeth need to be brushed equally, and a timer helps that happen. After each 30 second alert, you'll be prompted to move on instead of sticking to one area—no more neglecting those wisdom teeth and rear molars.

Helps Prevent Overbrushing

Overbrushing is a potential issue that not enough people know about. It's most commonly seen when people brush too hard. Only a small amount of pressure is needed to clean plaque and food debris from your teeth—when you go harder, you're only helping to strip away precious tooth enamel.

But overbrushing can occur when you spend too long on a certain tooth as well as when you exert too much pressure. If you spend too much time on your front teeth, particularly when you use a powerful electric toothbrush, you can end up doing more harm than good. An inbuilt timer helps prevent this issue.

Ensures You Brush the Whole Two Minutes

A quick 30 second once-over with your toothbrush is not enough to effectively clean your teeth. Unfortunately, many people make do with just that—even if they don't, teeth brushing isn't very mentally stimulating, so people often think they've brushed the recommended two minutes when they've not gone quite so long.

When your toothbrush has an inbuilt timer keeping pace, you won't be able to get away with only giving your teeth that quick once-over.

To learn more about the advantages of electric toothbrushes, contact a dentist.