How many times should I brush my teeth a day? Is twice enough? How many times a day should a floss my teeth? Is once enough?
I’ve always heard from the dentist that you should brush your teeth at LEAST twice a day and ideally you should floss immediately after every meal.
My hygienist told me that it takes 24 hours for the bacteria to act upon the food residue to form plaque. Hence, flossing just once a day is enough she said. By the same reasoning, brushing once a day should suffice; however, most people don’t brush adequately. I brush after every meal to be on the safe side. To brush adequately, the brushing should take about 3 minutes (which used to be the rule, but now with automatic brushes that have a 2-minute limit, this has been changed to two minutes).
According to my hygienist, “The primary reason you brush is to avoid cavities, and the primary reason you floss is to avoid gum disease. As a person gets older, they tend to me more resistant to cavities and more vulnerable to gum disease. Therefore, as a person gets older, flossing becomes more and more important, to the point where flossing is actually becomes more important than brushing.”
Anyway, that’s what she said.