Over the years there has been several times where I have written about the ‘brush your teeth twice a day and see a dentist twice a year’ advertising campaign back in the day for a tooth paste. And even though there was no scientific basis for this over the years this was the accepted standard. Today, we know that for many people, twice a year is not enough to maintain health; they need 3-4 visits a year.
But I read a great article about why the brush twice a day is actually correct. There are the obvious benefits of home care (brush, floss and oral rinses) such as prevention, elimination of bad breath and cleaning the mouth of the food particles. But according to Dr. Richard Nagelberg, in an article published in Dental Economics, there is more to it. It involves a better understanding of how bacteria colonize around the teeth and gums, something we call BIOFILM FORMATION. In the past I have blogged a lot about the biofilm in relationship to cavities. But today I talk about the biofilm and gum disease.
According to Dr. Nagelberg, the bacteria always start congregating the same way, with the earliest colonizers always being good bacteria (non-pathogenic). These bacteria are considered important for healthy gums. This biofilm is on the gum tissue and it can be different than the biofilm that is on tooth structure. If this biofilm is not eliminated (almost impossible to do) or at least adequately dismantled (this is where brushing come in to play) then the bad bacteria can start to colonize on top of the good bacteria. These bad bacteria are floating around in the mouth, but they cannot harm you until they are attached to the gum tissues.
It only takes 3-12 weeks for the bad bacteria (the pathogens) to become the predominate species within the biofilm. If you are susceptible to gum disease (genetics and an active chronic inflammatory response are a few of the factors that increase your susceptibility) then gum disease might develop. And there are numerous studies out there to show a link between gum disease and multiple other health issues, most notably HEART DISEASE AND DIABETES.
So brushing your teeth, at least twice a day is how we recommend that you disrupt the biofilm formation so that it starts at the base level, which is always a healthy biofilm for the mouth.
Here are some important tidbits on brushing your teeth to make sure you do it in a favorable way for your mouth, improper brushing can actually cause damage to both teeth and gum tissue.
- Always use a soft tooth brush
- Use gentle circular strokes making sure you are angling the bristles into the gum near the neck of the tooth.
- Never scrub your teeth, it is like taking sandpaper to your teeth, it will abrades away tooth structure (as will medium and hard toothbrushes or even a soft one if you scrub too hard)
- It is now recommended that you do not brush your teeth after drinking or eating anything that is acidic (including fruit juices, sodas, Gatorade and the list goes on) for at least 30 minutes. This acidity will allow your tooth brush to abrade away tooth structure much easier. You need to give your mouth time to neutralize the acidity that it has been exposed to.