Myths and Truths About Dental Care

Taking good care of your teeth and gums is an important step toward protecting your overall health. There’s growing evidence your oral health can affect the rest of your body.

Bacteria from your mouth can enter your body if your teeth and gums are in poor condition. That can lead to serious health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, inflammation, infections, and diabetes. Older people with gum disease or tooth loss are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, studies have found.

Brushing our teeth is a basic skill we learn as kids, but despite that early education, there are still a lot of myths about dental care. To dispel these misconceptions and find the truth, we consulted the experts at Northeast Delta Dental, a not-for-profit dental benefits provider that covers Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Myth: You only need to brush your teeth for a few seconds.

Truth: Brushing for two minutes twice a day is necessary to effectively clean your teeth.

On average, most people only brush their teeth for about 18 seconds, well short of the recommended two-minute minimum, says LeaAnne Haney, a dental hygienist. “Most of my patients don't realize how long two minutes is,” she says.

To ensure you are brushing long enough, track the time with a phone app, digital timer, or an inexpensive two-minute hourglass-style sand timer. Some electric toothbrushes have timers built in.

During the two minutes of brushing, be sure to reach all your teeth, not just those in the front. “I think a lot of people are standing there, kind of thinking about what they need to do for the next day, and they brush those front four teeth really, really good,” Haney says. It helps to have a standard way to clean your teeth, like always starting in the same spot and methodically working your way around, she says. Also be sure to brush your tongue, she adds, to remove bacteria that can cause plaque buildup on the teeth, which leads to cavities and gum disease.

Breaking up the two minutes of brushing into four 30-second segments can be helpful, says Christa Keddie, a dental hygienist. “Brush for 30 seconds around the top outside and 30 seconds around the top inside,” she suggests. “Then go to the bottom and do the same thing to complete your two minutes.”

Myth: You need to brush hard to keep your teeth clean.

Truth: Brushing too hard can damage your teeth and gums.

Brushing too hard can wear away the protective enamel on the outer layer of your teeth, making them more susceptible to cavities. Excessive force can also cause gums to recede, exposing sensitive roots of teeth.

“You don't necessarily need to brush hard or apply a lot of force,” says Keddie. “One way to know you are brushing too hard or too aggressively is if your toothbrush’s bristles start to fray out to the side. You want your bristles to be straight up and down on your toothbrush.” Using a toothbrush with soft bristles is recommended to help prevent damage.

Electric toothbrushes can indicate when too much pressure is being applied, says Haney. “If you use an electric brush and you press too hard, it stops working.”

Myth: You only need to floss when food is stuck between your teeth.

Truth: Flossing is an important way to remove plaque that causes tooth decay.

While flossing is a great way to remove food that’s caught between your teeth, its primary purpose is to break up plaque sticking to the teeth. “We want to disrupt that biofilm and remove bacteria that kind of sets up shop between the teeth,” says Haney.

The proper technique is to seesaw the floss into the gap between two teeth and then curve the floss into a C shape around the side of a tooth, Keddie says. Slide the floss up and down the side of the tooth, making sure to get just under the gum line. Repeat on the other tooth and then move onto the next gap. Be sure to also floss behind the last molars in the row.  

Guiding where the floss goes is important, Keddie says. A common mistake is just pushing the floss directly down between teeth, allowing the gum tissue to pick where it lands. Instead, we want to gently guide the floss to make sure it cleans both sides of each tooth.

Myth: Additional fluoride isn’t necessary, as toothpaste already has fluoride.

Truth: Fluoride rinses can provide extra protection.

If you live in a community that doesn’t add fluoride to its drinking water, or your water comes from a private source like a well or spring, you may want to include a fluoride rinse in your daily dental care.

Fluoride is a natural mineral that helps build tooth enamel, making teeth more resistant to decay. While fluoride is an active ingredient in many toothpastes, not every brand contains it, Haney notes. Using a fluoride rinse after brushing ensures that the teeth get enough fluoride to rebuild enamel. Fluoride rinses can also provide protection when brushing with toothpaste isn’t convenient, such as after lunch, she adds.

Older people who have a dry mouth and lack enough saliva to break down plaque can benefit from using a fluoride rinse, Haney says. So can people with gum disease.

“A lot of people have recession where the gums have pulled away and it's exposed the root of the tooth. So, we need to make that area strong when it’s showing. We want to remineralize those areas of recession and fluoride rinse is a great way to do that.”

Look for a fluoride rinse that doesn’t contain alcohol, she says. “For people that have a drier mouth, they want to stay away from any products that contain alcohol, because that dries their mouth even more.”

Myth: My teeth don’t hurt, so they must healthy.

Truth: Pain is not indicative of dental disease.

“People think their mouth is healthy because nothing is hurting them,” says Keddie. But that doesn’t mean dental decay and gum disease aren’t present.

Periodontal disease is usually silent until an infection erupts, she says. “Often things don't hurt in the mouth until it's a more serious infection,” she says.

To prevent painful dental problems from occurring, it’s important to see a dental health professional on a regular schedule.

Myth: Everyone should have a dental checkup twice a year.

Truth: Checkup schedules vary, depending on an individual’s needs.

The myth that everyone should have twice-annual dental checkups has its roots in a toothpaste advertising campaign from almost 80 years ago, Haney says. Dentists agreed to recommend a certain brand of toothpaste, in exchange for the brand’s ads urging people to see their dentist twice a year.

“There really is no kind of set schedule that patients should go to the dentist,” says Haney. Some patients need to go every three months for a cleaning, some can go six months between visits, and others only need to go once a year.

No matter how often you go, seeing a dental health professional can put you on the path to better dental and overall health. Dental hygienists look at patients as individuals, Haney says, and will create a customized oral health plan to meet each person’s needs. They can recommend specific products that will work best for you and provide tips for keeping your teeth healthy.

To find a dental health professional near you, use our Find-a-Dentist online search tool. For more oral health articles, check out Northeast Delta Dental’s blog.