Many of our patients wear down the sides of their teeth with a combination of excessive force, abrasive toothpastes, and stiff bristled toothbrushes.  A recent Scandinavian study simulated toothbrush abrasion on extracted teeth.  They found that the abrasiveness of the toothpaste had the most significant effect on how fast teeth erode.  Stiffer bristled toothbrushes had a lesser effect.  Our advice still remains the same...

 

 

To reduce excessive wear of your teeth, and recession of your gums, Dr. Le recommends these tips:

1. Avoid whitening toothpastes, which often use more abrasive compounds to get stains out.  Yes, that may mean reducing your use of staining drinks and foods.
2. Brush in small circles, not horizontal strokes.  Unless you have stainless steel teeth, think wine glasses, not barbecue grates.
3. Brush for a longer period of time, rather than using heavy hand pressure
4. Use a soft bristled toothbrush - while the study found it's a minor effect, every little bit helps.  Dr. Le suspects that medium and hard bristled toothbrushes tend to encourage excessive hand pressure because they provide tactile feedback to the hands.
5. Brush twice a day - the results are generally better than once per day, and three+ times per day does not provide proportionate improvement.

 Following these general guidelines will help preserve your teeth for years to come. 

--Vu Le, DDS

 Read the Abstract of the study here.