Technology has become too much advanced in all fields. Whether it is in medical field or that of everyday usage items, you are going to get the best deal. Now we are going to speak about an instrument that is used to improve the dental health. Yes, electric toothbrush is one of such instrument that will keep your entire mouth starting from teeth, gums, to tongue clear and attractive.
Electric toothbrushes usage –Advantages and disadvantages for your dental care
Have you noticed the kind of changes technology has brought forth? The things that used to take hours to be completed are now done with a matter of minutes. All thanks to the ever evolving ideas that paves way for more and more inventions and discoveries. The new invention that has taken the dental world by storm are the electric brushes and sonic brushes. Though they have been here for a while, yet it did not gain its due recognition until recent times.
To start with, many of them (including me) have a common question in mind when we think about electric brushes. Wondering what could it be? Well if you strain your brain a little you would try to analyze if manual brush is better than electric brush or vice versa. Apart from it you may also get a thought that on what concept does the electric brush work? Is it good for us? Will it really help? and so on. Today in this article we shall discuss about electric brushes, its pros and cons.
Dental care is very important to keep the teeth clean and healthy. There are two types of brushes available in the market for this job which includes manual and electric toothbrushes. Recently the oral hygiene sections and stores have been flooded with electric toothbrushes.
Electric toothbrushes are battery-operated toothbrushes that promote cleaner teeth using a bristle head that moves at a rate much faster than any manual toothbrush. The bristle heads move round in round in one direction and then the other once and then the bristles move side to side in different directions. There has been lots of controversy over the effectiveness of this electric toothbrush.
Electric brushes
Electric brushes operates with the help of batteries. Its bristles move automatically in two directions – oscillating motion and rotational oscillation motion. They rotate at a much faster rate than a normal human hand would do. Thus resulting in cleaner and whiter teeth.
Advantages of electric brushes
- Electric brushes are specially useful for elderly people and those that suffer from any sort of disability or limited mobility. It is also greatly useful for diabetic patients. Using this brush would help them in brushing their teeth properly without much effort thereby resulting in oral hygiene.
- These brushes are recommended by many dentists. Repeated studies on the same has showed that electric brushes has greater effect than manual brushes. They provide 80% more benefit than any other ordinary brush. It is said that the rotating motion of the electric brush works in the same way as the tool that is used by the dentists in cleansing the teeth. This Is one reason why most of the clients have opted to use electric brush than a manual brush.
- Electric toothbrush rotates almost 3000-4000 times a minute thereby providing cleaner and whiter teeth. These brushes have proven to remove stains, plaques and prevent gum related issues effectively. It is built with a timer that has a default setting of 2 minutes which is the idea time for maintaining a healthy and clean mouth. The bristles of the brush is so swift in its moments that it reaches every corner of the mouth as well as the smallest crack in the teeth.
- Electric toothbrushes promote cleaner and whiter teeth with the fast movement of the bristles. They work more effectively to remove plaque, stains and prevent gum disease. Each bristle head of the electric toothbrush is designed to clean every part of your mouth. It has the ability to reach the molars and wisdom teeth that are almost impossible for a manual toothbrush to reach and the tiniest cracks between the teeth. Electric toothbrushes have a built-in, two minute timer which is the recommended time needed to maintain a clean and healthy mouth.
- Electric toothbrushes are found to cause less damage to the gums. The vibrating motions of an electric toothbrush cleanse the surface of the tooth’s enamel really well and are also beneficial for the health of the gums. The vibrations provide a gentle massage to stimulate healthy blood circulation in the gums
- Electric toothbrushes are preferred by most dentists as they find a better oral hygiene of persons using electric brushes. The rotating and vibrating motions of electric toothbrush resemble the same ones professional dentists use to cleaning the teeth professionally.
Electronic toothbrushes are a great help to those with disabilities and limited mobility like in arthritis. The movement is simple and less challenging with the electric brush as compared to manual cleaning.
Disadvantages of electric brush
- It is too expensive. It costs of a minimum of $15 to get a basic electric brush. If you want to go for some advanced features then it may cost as much as $100 as well. In addition to it, as the electric brush works on batteries one must even invest in purchasing the batteries which would cost another $5 to $10. Plus you need to replace these electric brushes every 3 months which adds on to the existing charges by $20. For an ordinary person who finds it difficult to survive these extra dollars in a brush is a real big deal.
- People with sensitivity issue can’t really opt for electric brushes as the bristles of these brushes are not ultra soft. Secondly those suffering from sensitive tooth problem cannot possibly go for a brush that would move at a speed of 3000-4000 rotations per minute. Thus manual brush is the perfect choice for them.
- As most of the electric brushes are heavy in weight and quite big in size in comparison to normal brushes it becomes quite difficult for one to use these brushes while traveling.
- Electric toothbrushes are expensive and so many fail to afford them. Besides the cost of replacing the batteries and electricity used to charge them has also to be taken into consideration. The brush heads which are quite expensive also have to be changed every three months.
- Electric toothbrushes are not good for people with sensitive teeth. The electric toothbrush is not found in ultra-soft bristles. The vibrations and speed of an electric toothbrush can aggravate the sensitivity of the delicate nerves.
- Electronic toothbrushes are less suitable for traveling because of their bulky size and weight, and their need for battery replacement and charging. Although there are some electric toothbrushes specifically designed for travel, but still they cannot be folded to a small size like some of the manual travel toothbrushes.
- Some studies have shown that a manual toothbrush is more effective than an electric tooth brush in removing all the plaque in your mouth.
Its based on your requirement and preference that you can decide whether or not to go for an electric brush. Its advisable that make talk to people who are already using it and find out if it is a good use for them. this way you would have a live review about the product in question. Apart from that also take your dentist’s recommendation before you decide to purchase it.
Tips on choosing an electric toothbrush
Choosing an electric toothbrush comes down to preference and effectiveness in the user’s hands. Remember a few tips before choosing
- Are the brush heads easily available in the nearby market and what would be its cost?
- What is the warranty period and what all does it cover?
- Does the size of the brush fit comfortably in the mouth?
- How comfortable is the feel of the handle in the hands?
- Does the vibration and speed irritate the hand or mouth?
Both manual and electric toothbrush is used to reach the goal to maintain oral hygiene so choose the one that works best for the user.
The bottom line
The decision, whether to buy an electric toothbrush or not, is really based on the user’s preference, oral hygiene habits, and most importantly, choosing one with which the user is comfortable. Electric toothbrushes are known to produce better results that do not mean that the manual toothbrush is obsolete. The same results can be obtained with a manual toothbrush with extra effort and discipline.It is advisable that regular visit to the dentist is necessary to keep the teeth healthy in the long run.
Advantage over manual brush
We all have been using manual brush where you have to apply the paste and brush teeth by holding it in your hand and moving the Bristles all across your mouth. But, now you don’t have to take so much of trouble. The electric brush will easily make the task easy.
Rotating head
One of the wonderful features of electric brush is the fact that it has got the rotating head which can go ahead with the cleaning of your teeth without using your hand and moving your bristles upside and downside. The rotating head of the tooth brush will give equal pressure all parts of your teeth so that everywhere same type of cleanliness is achieved.
Thorough brushing
With the help of electric toothbrush you can easily get more thorough brushing. This is not possible if you are using the manual brush. It gives emphasis to each quadrant equally with adequate time so that longer and better brushing is done. You will absolutely feel clean with this particular brushing sequence.
Disadvantage of electric brush
Breaks easily
The electric toothbrushes are prone to any type of breakage. If accidentally you drop it over the floor, the brush can break easily. They are really sensitive and should be cared a lot while handling it or when you are keeping it in the brush box.
Run out of battery
Since the electric toothbrushes runs on cells and battery, there will be chance that it will run out of battery now and then. Thus, if you are using the electric toothbrush only, suddenly while brushing if batter goes off, you might not be able to continue the brushing.
