Manual vs Electric Toothbrush- Which is better?

Quick brushing does not mean that the plaque in between the teeth and bacteria in the mouth are removed while you chomp down your breakfast.

Your teeth were briefly brushed once but the oral odor, bad breathe and plaques are still having a good time in your mouth.

What gives your teeth the best brushing- manual or electric toothbrush?

It depends entirely on how your tooth brushing is done; carefully and diligently or simply brushing all over the teeth with short brushing that can be done in just 5 seconds.

Brushing your teeth the correct way may take you a longer time but it will ensure that all of your teeth are carefully cleaned, extracted all the excess food particles and allow the toothpaste fluoride to absorb into the teeth for extra protection from tooth decay or developing cavities.

• Tooth brushing also requires the right toothbrush, soft bristle for sensitive gums, moderate bristle for comfortable brushing and hard bristle for getting rid of stubborn plaque and yellow stains on your teeth.
• When choosing a toothbrush, you may feel lost, which type is suitable for you as you cannot open up the sealed toothbrush package to test it out, right?
• There a vast array of choices to choose from manual toothbrush with various lengths, tendency of the bristle, toothbrush grip and color.
• In addition to it, there are quick and easy electric toothbrush for lazy consumers and young kids.

A manual toothbrush is fine if you apply the right technique of brushing. Unfortunately, 10% of consumers know how to brush their teeth properly.

Ask your dentist whether your method of brushing is right or wrong. You may be in for a surprise of his response.

The benefits of manual toothbrush are:

• Light handle grip- Kids and old people have weaker arms and hands. Manual toothbrushes are usually light and designed with various handle grips to suit each person preference. Kids’ toothbrushes are usually designed smaller and thinner for easy handling as their hands are smaller than adults. Old folks prefer to use straight forward, old fashion toothbrush as they are used to them.
• Cheap and Various color or design- You can purchase manual toothbrush almost anywhere; convenience store, hypermarket, supermarket, even 7-eleven store that opens 24 hours a day. Manual toothbrush comes in various colors, designs, different handle grips, from soft to hard bristles and kids love those cartoon character toothbrushes with caps on. This helps to motivate the kids to enjoy brushing their teeth everyday as they can see their favorite cartoon toothbrush. Since you need to change toothbrush every 3 months, you might as well purchase bulk toothbrush or big saver toothbrush that usually offers 3 pieces for a low price with different colors. Our family buys Oral B because we like the comfortable handle grip and moderate bristles that suited our oral care.

• Exercise your wrist- By using a manual toothbrush, you will be moving your wrist left and right in a consistent movement. This mini exercise helps the muscle and bones in your wrist to move, less rigid while you lift your arms up and down as you change the brushing position.

If you feel that manual toothbrush makes painful tooth brushing task or frequently suffering from gum bleeding or maybe you don’t have a lot of time because you are in a hurry, you may consider an electric toothbrush that can be a better alternative.

• One of the benefits of electric toothbrush is it can help you to produce white sparkling teeth in a couple of minutes, half the time of using a manual toothbrush.
• You can choose the speed of the bristles to brush your teeth, slow for old folks and kids as their teeth are still developing or weak, fast if you are in a hurry.
• The vibration of the electric toothbrush also helps you to massage your gums too. The electric toothbrush is specially designed to motivate kids to brush regularly everyday. They will find brushing teeth is fun and enjoyable task, getting the right habit of oral hygiene is important for the kids as their teeth are still growing.
• Furthermore, these electric toothbrush with small headed designs could perform very well in hard to reach area especially in the top and bottom molar teeth.
• If you brush too hard on your teeth, the motor cuts out, indicating that you are pressing too harsh on your gums and your teeth enamel may chip off too.

Whether you choose manual or electric toothbrush, correct method of brushing your teeth is vital in order to cut down cavities, plaque and gum diseases.

Brief tips:

• Brush in small circles starting from the incision teeth, not the two front teeth as we normally we do that!
• Brush with the bristles angled towards the gum at 45 degrees.
• For tricky areas, keep the same angle but do a mini scrub back and forth.
• Watch the below video to understand more on how to properly brush your teeth.

• Expensive- There is a wide range of electric toothbrush from different brands. Price is expensive ranging also differs depending on the functions and where it is made. Locally manufactured ones are much cheaper than foreign countries toothbrush. However, no matter how you save, the cost of each electric toothbrush is equivalent of 60 manual toothbrushes.
• Needs to recharge- Yes, you need to recharge the electric toothbrush in order for it to work. If you had forgotten to recharge it and you are in a hurry, you would be cursing and swearing the morning. What do you expect? All electric appliances need to recharge before they could start working. In addition, it may take a few hours to recharge the motor before you could use it. Some branded electric toothbrush has the option to use rechargeable batteries for convenience. You need to buy spare batteries just in case the 1^st batch are worn out of power.
• Heavy and inconvenient to carry- The electric toothbrush handle grip is too big for the kids to grab with their small palms. Battery compartment is usually located at the hand grip area which makes it heavier for the kids to hold on to the weight. Kids and elderly folks do not know how to recharge the electric toothbrush, had to depend on adults to do the recharging task. It is also in convenient to carry it around as it is much bigger and heavier. You have to bring the charger along if you intend to bring it during travelling.

So, which toothbrush are you using now? Manual or electric? What brand do you use? Do you still floss your teeth after brushing. Do leave your comments. Would love to hear different people opinions.

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