No matter how much you hate brushing yourteeth , there ’s no getting around it : steady brush avail you keep a sound mouth as well as ahealthy heart . But even if you ’ve been doing it since you were tall enough to reach your bathroom pass , there ’s a chance you ’re not brushing your tooth properly . as luck would have it , better your brushing habits can be as simple as tweak your proficiency and taking an extra arcminute out of your day .

How Long Should You Brush Your Teeth?

According toPopular Science , the key to productive brushing is duration . Both theAmerican Dental Associationand theBritish Dental Associationrecommend brushing for at least two minutes at a fourth dimension twice a Clarence Day — ordinarily in the morning and at night . Two minutes may not sound like a long time , but unless you ’re count down the seconds , it ’s hard to know exactly how long you ’ve brush . The easiest fix for this is coif a timer : That way , you may sweep mindlessly without care about when to stop .

How to Brush Your Teeth

That ’s not to say every brushing session that hits the two - minute mark will have the same results . When you sweep , your goal should be to clean every tooth without abusing your gums . That means softly sweeping the bristles in short , back - and - forth motions at a 45 - degree slant to your gums . If your gum palpate sore , even after you switch to a gentle proficiency , the problem may consist in the light touch itself . Make indisputable you choose a tool with soft bristle , as blind drunk bristles will only cause terms to the sensitive field of your mouth .

Sometimes even setting a timer , upgrading your soup-strainer , and improving your proficiency is n’t enough to battle the central job of unwritten hygienics : It is n’t very exciting . The more you dislike brushing your teeth , the less probable you are to do it , so you should witness any chance you could to make it a more rewarding experience . One conjuring trick is listening to your soup-strainer sound : Researchhas shownthat citizenry who listened to audio of their brushing play back to them felt cleaner and more accomplished afterwards .

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Good habits start early.

A version of this taradiddle was originally published in 2019 and has been updated for 2025 .