This is the 3712th article of Da Yi Xiao Nursing
Many friends who have not yet started with electric toothbrushes are struggling with whether to buy electric toothbrushes; and those who have bought electric toothbrushes actually have no understanding of electric toothbrushes. In fact, people's understanding of electric toothbrushes is mostly from imagination and has no scientific basis. Therefore, people have more misunderstandings about electric toothbrushes.
Myth one Electric toothbrush must be less laborious than manual toothbrush
The reason why many people tend to choose electric toothbrushes is because they value the advantages of electric toothbrushes. However, is an electric toothbrush equivalent to a "effortless" toothbrush?
Electric toothbrushes are effortless and have to do with the form of movement of their bristles. Not all electric toothbrushes are the kind that can be used with a "lying flat" mentality. At present, it is believed that the use of rotary oscillating (pendulum rotation) toothbrushes is indeed relatively easy, while the use of sonic electric toothbrushes is not much different from manual toothbrushes.
Myth 2 Electric toothbrushes must brush cleaner than manual toothbrushes
The cleaning efficiency of electric toothbrushes is indeed higher than that of manual toothbrushes, but this is mainly reflected in the cleaning of exposed parts of teeth (such as the lips, cheeks, tongue, palate surface of teeth); for hidden parts of teeth, whether electric toothbrushes or manual toothbrushes need appropriate brushing technology support to achieve thorough cleaning, such as the neck area of teeth; or they are whiplashed, such as deep in the pit groove of teeth.
In addition, studies have found that the ability of sonic electric toothbrushes to remove plaque is not superior to that of manual toothbrushes. Only rotary oscillating electric toothbrushes are better than manual toothbrushes at removing plaque and reducing gingivitis, while other types of electric toothbrushes are not necessarily superior to manual toothbrushes.
Myth 3: Ultrasonic electric toothbrushes are comparable to dental cleansers
We all know that the tool for scaling teeth is an ultrasonic scaling machine, and an ultrasonic electric toothbrush also carries the word "ultrasonic", but there is still a difference between the two.
Although the operating frequency of ultrasonic electric toothbrushes (20 kHz to 10 MHz) is not low, the propagation speed of ultrasonic waves is related to the propagation medium, that is, the fastest propagation speed in solids, followed by liquids, and the slowest in gases. The propagation medium of the ultrasonic scaling machine is the metal working tip, while the propagation medium of the ultrasonic electric toothbrush is a mixture of liquid (water, saliva, liquefied toothpaste) and the air bubbles it entrains. Compared with ultrasonic scaling machines, the ultrasonic intensity of ultrasonic electric toothbrushes that end up acting on plaque is significantly reduced. Like other types of toothbrushes, ultrasonic electric toothbrushes, while cleaning plaque, still don't remove calculus and are therefore not comparable to scaling machines.
Although the old saying goes, "hand skill is not as good as home", but in the problem of brushing teeth, technology is still the first. No matter how good a toothbrush is, its ability is limited. Relying too much on toothbrushes without actively mastering the necessary brushing techniques is actually putting the cart before the horse.
Author: Shanghai Municipal Health and Healthy Development Research Center
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