How Often Should I Replace My Toothbrush?

If you are one of the many practicing excellent dental hygiene, you are probably brushing your teeth twice a day for two minutes at a time and even flossing afterward. You may think your toothbrush is manufactured to last forever, but the reality is entirely different. Are you aware of how often you must change the tool you use to remove the plaque off your teeth and gums twice a day for a cumulative four minutes? If not, it is time you learned about it before it is too long.

Toothbrushes, like everything else, have a lifetime and tend to wear down when used regularly. The nylon bristles of your toothbrush begin to fray with regular use by 2 ½ or three months or even earlier if you brush aggressively. The fraying of the strands is an indicator you should watch out for as an occasion to change your toothbrush without further delay.

Why Must You Change Your Toothbrush Frequently?

If you use your toothbrush as frequently as your dentist recommended, you are subjecting the tool to significant pressure. You are using the brush twice a day for two minutes during every session. It ensures that the soft bristles begin fraying to accumulate harmful bacteria from your mouth. The dentist in Madison Avenue claims the bacteria from your mouth and bathroom get together on your toothbrush over time.

You may rinse your toothbrush after every use with water to minimize the residue and bacteria accumulation. However, in most cases, you probably hoist in a toothbrush holder used by everyone. The bathroom also has a moist environment encouraging bacteria to develop on everything around it. In such cases, your toothbrush becomes susceptible to bacterial accumulation that eventually finds its way into your mouth.

Can You Adopt Steps to Prolong the Life of Your Toothbrush?

The dentist in midtown Manhattan recommends you do not adopt any steps to prolong the life of your toothbrush. As mentioned earlier, toothbrushes are not designed to last forever and only have a lifespan of three to four months. Using them frequently in your mouth and exposing them to bacterial accumulations on your teeth and gums leads to a tool becoming contaminated. If you are a regular user of your toothbrush and adopt proper brushing techniques recommended by the best dentist in town, you can rest assured the bristles will begin to fray earlier than expected. Trying to prolong the toothbrush’s life even further only exposes you to the risks of dental infections that you are desperately trying to avoid. Therefore you must change the toothbrush when you observe any fraying of the bristles or are nearing the end of three months.

What Do Dentists Recommend for Toothbrush Use?

Even emergency dentists recommend that you change your toothbrush every three months or when the bristles start to fray. The recommendation is made to ensure the bristles are still useful and bacteria accumulation on the toothbrush is not on the higher side.

Are you a frequent traveler with a separate toothbrush for your trips everywhere? You may think you are not using the tool frequently, and therefore you don’t have to change it as often. However, it would be beneficial if you still considered changing the toothbrush once every three to four months to ensure you have the appropriate tool in your possession to maintain your dental health.

After you finish brushing in the morning or evening and rinse your toothbrush, it helps if you can store the toothbrush in dry conditions, perhaps by an open window or in any other place suitable for drying it out. The aim of drying your toothbrush is just a eliminate moisture and bacteria from the tool. It won’t extend the life of the toothbrush or ensure the bristles won’t fray. It is just a mechanism to ensure you don’t invite unwanted bacteria in your mouth floating around in your bathroom’s atmosphere.

It will help if you understand that your toothbrush is your first line of defense against gum disease-causing bacteria. So long as your toothbrush has straight bristles and an easy to grip handle, you can navigate to the difficult to reach areas in your mouth effortlessly. Brushing two or more times every day is standard for a manual toothbrush. The frequency of your brushing will ensure the bristles of your toothbrush will begin falling out or become twisted and mangled within three months. It is the appropriate time for you to change the toothbrush for a new one without delay.

Why should you change your toothbrush frequently? If you are not aware, please learn more from this article about changing your toothbrush.