Oral care products have come a long way – from chewing sticks to high-tech ultrasonic devices. If you look at modern oral care technologies, you’ll be amazed at how powerful and empowering these tools have become, and how much of a difference a properly selected tool can make in your life today.
We explored the most relevant information in oral care to determine what is the most important for the health-conscious reader.
The most important thing in any toothbrush
Today, we know that a toothbrush – whether manual or electric – needs soft and gentle high-density bristles.
Bristles are the tiny fibres at the end of your brush. If they are hard, they can damage your teeth. If they are soft, they cause no damage – plus, they can reach into tighter and harder-to-reach spaces.
Soft and dense bristles combined with the proper brushing technique will significantly improve your oral health in the long term.
The density of bristles is also important because toothbrushes are mostly about a mechanical action, so the more things happening as you brush, the better.
For example, if you brush at a speed of between two and six brush strokes per second, two minutes of brushing will result in approximately 400-500 strokes.
With a regular low-density hard brush, this gives around 350,000 cleaning actions.
If you take a brush that’s a little more dense, you can get up to 1 million cleaning actions per brushing.
With a dense soft toothbrush (like the CURAPROX CS 5460), one brushing will give you up to 2.5 million cleaning actions, which is up to eight times more efficient than a regular over-the-counter low-density brush.
Just by increasing the bristle count, you multiply the number of cleaning actions on your teeth.
Do I need an electric toothbrush? Or is a simple high-density soft brush enough?
Basically, good oral health can be maintained with a soft manual toothbrush, a proper brushing technique and an interdental brush.
However, the tech-savvy users and the most health-conscious people can consider an electric toothbrush as the way to go: a combination of a well-designed electric brush and daily interdental brushing can be a breakthrough for many people.
Studies showed that sonic toothbrushes clean up to 10% better than the manual brush, and with the best devices out there, you can get up to 84,000 movements per minute.
CURAPROX Hydrosonic PRO is a lightweight and powerful toothbrush with an ergonomic handle and brush head to ensure perfect accessibility and a firm grip.
Unlike rotating brush heads, Hydrosonic PRO uses a simple vertical to-and-from movement. Such movement is more gentle to your gums and provides additional hydrodynamic effects.
If the brush head has the right tilt, the bristles are soft and the motor is versatile enough, you can create an unmatched brushing experience.
This efficiency is particularly useful for people who for any reason are limited in executing fine brushing movements. Less physical movements are needed while brushing, and the results will still be exceptional.
People wearing braces also find that an electric toothbrush saves them a lot of work cleaning the braces and the spaces around them. However, with braces you need to pick out specific brush heads for your electric toothbrush: ones that work best with the elevated shape of the braces.
CURAPROX Hydrosonic PRO already comes packaged with a proper set of heads designed for cleaning braces, as well as implants, and there are refills available for order.
How fast electric brushes need to go
Electric brushes typically deliver between roughly 1,000 and 80,000 movements, strokes or pulses per minute, depending on the manufacturer and model. Don’t be surprised by the range – many electric brushes operate across many speeds.
At lower speeds, below roughly 60,000, a brush provides a solid efficient mechanical action that is good for the physical cleaning of surfaces. The precise speed is not that important; the wide range is merely designed for you to pick the speed that feels the best for you.
Above roughly 60,000 movements per minute, a toothbrush can create vibrations that activate the mixture of saliva and your toothpaste.
This activated compound becomes more efficient and reaches smaller spaces, including the outer parts of your interdental spaces. At CURAPROX, this process is called hydrodynamic effect, or hydrosonic brushing.
The hydrosonic process is the next level of proper brushing and largely increases its efficiency, so investing in a hydrosonic toothbrush is good advice for the particularly health-conscious.
Choosing an electric toothbrush: consider the bristles
Many electric brushes can deliver high brushing rates, but remember that a proper toothbrush is all about the bristles and the tilt.
Your electric brush has to be comfortable and atraumatic: go for the smaller heads with soft and dense bristles.
If your brush has hard low-density bristles, your electric brush is not helping – it’s just an abrasive machine that pokes your teeth with hard bristles. This can cause gum recession. If a regular hard brush damages your teeth just a little bit, an electric brush multiplies that damage.
Some electric brush heads are dangerous: they are made of hard bristles and plastic parts that can do substantial damage to the enamel. Avoid these at all costs.
Your electric brush has to be comfortable and atraumatic: go for the smaller heads with soft and dense bristles. Such brushes can reach difficult areas such as the back of your molars and the inner side of the front teeth.
CURAPROX went a bit further here: apart from being a small and gentle brush, the Hydrosonic PRO set contains a single-tuft head for a focused tartar build-up removal – with the effect of a close-to-professional cleaning.
Going for the electric toothbrush? Here are a few more things
Keep using interdental brushes. Although electric brushing is a significant upgrade to your daily routine, it is still just a part of your proper oral care. You still need to clean your interdental spaces daily, as they are the most prone to tooth decay, and there are no better tools for gentle and proper cleaning than the interdental brushes.
Pick the right toothpaste. Most of the conventional pastes contain aggressive agents like SLS. As a result, you can experience unnecessarily excessive foaming and an irritated mouth. Avoid this ingredient in your toothpaste. From CURAPROX’s selection, you can go for protective Enzycal toothpastes or gentle whitening BE YOU and Black is White pastes.
Apply the proper brushing technique, just like with a manual toothbrush: place the brush half on your teeth, half on the gums; in case of hydrosonic toothbrush don’t press at all. Start with the most difficult places, like the back of your molars. Once you’re finished, always test how well you brushed: lick your teeth with your tongue – the surfaces should all be as smooth as glass.
What’s in the box of CURAPROX Hydrosonic PRO?
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Sensitive brush head
• Extra soft CUREN® filaments, extremely gentle to your gums
• Small drop-shaped head to reach difficult areas
• Ergonomic curve of the bristles CURACURVE® for perfect accessibility
Single brush head
• Extra fine CUREN® bristles for precise cleaning
• Essential for implant- and braces-care
• Ergonomic CURACURVE® shape
Power brush head
• Powerful but soft CUREN® filaments for normal gums
• Small drop-shaped head to reach difficult areas
• Ergonomic curve of the bristles CURACURVE® for perfect accessibility
Lightweight and ergonomic handle
• Intuitive manipulation: one button, 7 programs
• Only 110 grams in weight
• The shape allows for the correct 45° angle towards the gumline
• Fully charged allows for 60 minutes of full brushing power
