According to a recent survey conducted by the Oral Health Foundation, one in four Britons believe that electric toothbrushes are for the lazy, which came as an enormous surprise to us here at CK Dental practice in Bristol.

So let’s lay out a few comparisons between the electric toothbrush and good old elbow grease and see if that’s really the case…

Brush movements

According to tests, the average motions made by the user of a regular toothbrush result in 300 to 600 movements per minute. An electric toothbrush, on the other hand, can deliver over 48,000 movements a minute – a huge improvement.

Furthermore, while manual toothbrush users can easily fall into bad brushing habits – such as an endless back-and-forth motion, as opposed to the circular motion that dentists recommend – virtually all electric toothbrushes rotate, which is far more effective in sweeping plaque away.

Over-brushing

While manual toothbrush users are getting far less activity going on in their mouths as opposed to their electric counterparts, they also run more of a risk in damaging their teeth by pressing too hard.

This is not so much of a danger with the more modern electric toothbrushes, as a lot of them have built-in sensors that alert the user when they’re being pressed against the tooth.

Child-friendliness

Another department where the electric toothbrush comes out on top is with kids. While they can’t usually brush as well as they might with a manual toothbrush (and find it boring), the electric toothbrush does all the hard work – and they actually enjoy brushing their teeth with one.

In short, there’s nothing at all wrong with using a standard toothbrush – providing you know how to use it properly. If you feel you could use a little more power and convenience during your daily dental routine, however, we recommend you upgrade to electric as soon as you can.