Metal Mouth Message Board

I've been considering getting an electric toothbrush, but I'm honestly a little worried about it. My regular toothbrushes get stuck in my brackets ALL THE TIME, and I'm worried that with an electric one it will get stuck, but the brush won't stop, resulting in disaster.

what does everyone use, and what are your thoughtsand experiences?

I never had that problem... but i actually had an ortho (my alternative doc #2) tell me that electric brushes maybe bad for gums. it makes your gumline kind of bunched up, not lay flat on the tooth...

I personally use a manual toothbrush and have been using one all my life. I've never tried an electric one so I can't comment on that. The manual tooth brush serves me well, but the bristles do get frayed more quickly now that I have braces. But I haven't had any of the bristles get caught on my brackets before though.

I've used an Oral-B electric since I can remember, so when I got my braces I just continued using it. My ortho actually gave one to me at the start of treatment. I had a better version, so I gave the free one to my husband I use the electric to brush morning and night, but I use a manual in between meals. I feel the electric does a better job for sure, but I don't find it necessary to use it 5 times a day lol. I have never had any issues with bristles getting stuck. I have an orthodontic head for it which is really really convenient, and I also use the sensitive soft head. Hopefully that helps!

My dentist, periodontist and ortho all pushed me to switch to electric this year. I got the most basic Oral B 1000 with the timer.

I definitely feel like my teeth are cleaner after electric! The technique is different bc you hold it on each tooth 1-2 seconds and let the brush do the scrubbing - watch some YouTube videos and ask your dentist for a demo. I learned today that I’m not brushing the bottom as well as top yet, so definitely takes time to adjust.

I've always used an electric toothbrush on my braces (other than the times that I've forgotten it or it runs out of charge. I recently went to the hygienist who recommended using electric toothbrushes.

Don't worry about it getting caught in the brackets. It brushes over them and it doesn't get caught in them (and I properly stick the bristles in the gaps in my teeth). And everytime I go to the dentist and orthodontist they commend me on my oral hygiene so it clearly works well!

Go for it

Thanks for all the input everyone! I have my first adjustment today, so I'll ask my orthodontist or tech what they recommend as well

I forgot to ask xD

I did ask how my hygiene was doing, and they said everything looked good, so I think I'll stick to a manual brush for now

I use an electric toothbrush and it actually causes less harm than my manual one did, the electric toothbrush does the work for you and keeps your mouth cleaner in my opinion.

Fiatbraces wrote: ↑Sat Dec 15, 2018 7:16 am I use an electric toothbrush and it actually causes less harm than my manual one did, the electric toothbrush does the work for you and keeps your mouth cleaner in my opinion.

What do you mean by harm?

braceace wrote: ↑Sat Dec 15, 2018 5:16 pm [quote=Fiatbraces post_id=506129 time=<a href="tel:1544883380">1544883380</a> user_id=31560]
I use an electric toothbrush and it actually causes less harm than my manual one did, the electric toothbrush does the work for you and keeps your mouth cleaner in my opinion.

What do you mean by harm?
[/quote]

My gums were really saw when I used a manual tooth brush and this was from aggressive brushing, when using the eledtric toothbrush I just place the brush on different areas of the teeth and it does the work for me and I also use a special round orthodontic brush head which is small in the middle and long around the edges, it is perfect for keeping braces clean,

Fiatbraces wrote: ↑Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:17 pm

braceace wrote: ↑Sat Dec 15, 2018 5:16 pm [quote=Fiatbraces post_id=506129 time=<a href="tel:1544883380">1544883380</a> user_id=31560]
I use an electric toothbrush and it actually causes less harm than my manual one did, the electric toothbrush does the work for you and keeps your mouth cleaner in my opinion.

What do you mean by harm?

My gums were really saw when I used a manual tooth brush and this was from aggressive brushing, when using the eledtric toothbrush I just place the brush on different areas of the teeth and it does the work for me and I also use a special round orthodontic brush head which is small in the middle and long around the edges, it is perfect for keeping braces clean,
[/quote]

Yes, aggressive brushing does harm the gums and could cause gum recession in the long run. But having said that, it is also necessary to brush the gums as well along with brushing your teeth. Just don't be so aggressive.

Yikes! I wonder if I have gum recession. I can brush pretty aggressively sometimes.

Thanks for info!

Definitely get an electric brush. After switching to one in 2017, I haven't looked back. It's superior to manual and your teeth feel so much cleaner! I'm using a sonicare and I love it. It doesn't get caught in brackets. I find that the bristles tend to wear out quicker though.