What type of toothbrush and toothpaste do you recommend?

Tooth brush

• There are two types of toothbrushes. Electrical and manual. 
• There has been extensive research on whether electrical toothbrushes were better at removing plaque than manual. 
• Latest systematic review that looked at different researches has concluded that electrical toothbrushes are more clinically significantly effective at removing plaques.

Elkerbout TA, Slot DE, Rosema NAM, Van der Weijden GA. How effective is a powered toothbrush as compared to a manual toothbrush? A systematic review and meta-analysis of single brushing exercises. Int J Dent Hyg. 2020 Feb;18(1):17-26. doi: 10.1111/idh.12401. Epub 2019 Jul 23. PMID: 31050195; PMCID: PMC7004084.

Wang P, Xu Y, Zhang J, Chen X, Liang W, Liu X, Xian J, Xie H. Comparison of the effectiveness between power toothbrushes and manual toothbrushes for oral health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acta Odontol Scand. 2020 May;78(4):265-274. doi: 10.1080/00016357.2019.1697826. Epub 2019 Dec 9. PMID: 32285744.

Nagy P, Kövér K, Gera I, Horváth A. Elektromos és kézi fogkefék hatékonyságának összehasonlítása az orális prevencióban. Irodalmi áttekintés, systematic review, meta-analízis [Evaluation of the efficacy of powered and manual toothbrushes in preventing oral diseases (Systematic review with meta-analysis)]. Fogorv Sz. 2016 Mar;109(1):3-22. Hungarian. PMID: 27188156.

• Both manual and electric toothbrushes are effective at removing bacteria as long as they are used correctly. Manual toothbrushes are much more technique sensitive and most often patients do not clean properly leading to greater user error. 
• Electrical toothbrushes do all the work for you and you have to guide the toothbrush tooth by tooth. 
• Recommend electric toothbrushes. Especially for patients who have dexterity issues like elderly and children.
• It is easier to get customized brush heads for different needs. One of the most common problems patients who had braces in the paste is decalcification or white spots around the area where the brackets are placed. This is because when patients with braces, who tend to be younger, are not able to clean around the brackets and sugar stays around the area. Bacteria then eat that sugar and create acid that dissolves the outer layer of the tooth. In order to prevent those spots from forming, patients can use special attachments that can reach hard to reach spots around the orthodontic brackets.

Types of Electric Tooth brushes

There are a lot of different electric toothbrushes out there promising that they are the best. What would Dr. Jang recommend?

There are two main types of electric toothbrushes in the market:

Oscillating Vs Sonic toothbrushes

• Rotating Oscillating Electric Toothbrushes
  • These electric toothbrushes have circular head that rotates 360 degrees.
  • No manual strokes are needed as toothbrush does all the motions for you
• Sonic Toothbrushes
  
  • Shaped like a traditional toothbrush heads that vibrates and removes plaques by breaking the biofilm
  • Requires traditional strokes to move vertical along the tooth. 
• Whether the toothbrushes are electrical or manual, or what shape the brushes, the most important thing is proper brushing technique. 
• Improper brushing can lead to soft tissue damage and enamel erosion.  
• There is no definite answer to which one is better. One studies have shown that oscillating brushes are better while others say the two are comparable. 
• The most important thing is to make sure that patients understand how to use the toothbrushes correctly