I don’t smile often in photographs. The reason stems from my elementary school years, when a dental surgeon had to rip out my baby canine tooth, which for same reason never came out. Of course I was left with a hole in its place for a whole year, because the new tooth didn’t start to grow right away. That’s when I started to cover my smile with my hand. Believe it or not, eight years later I still have to consciously remind myself not to do it. In the mean time I wore braces too, which made sure my new tooth grew properly and also straightened my front teeth. Nowadays I’m satisfied with my teeth and a smile comes much easier to me. But the road to get here was long.
When I had my braces my confidence was rock bottom. Even though they were already common when I had them, it was still anything but pleasant. In addition, cleaning the braces takes a lot of precision and patience, and I think that’s when I became obsessed with dental hygiene. Since I was always worried that there might be a bit of salad, apple or meat stuck between my teeth or in my braces, I started to clean my teeth after every single meal, I even took my toothbrush to school.
Two years later I finally got my braces removed, but my teeth were close together, so my dentist told me to floss. I took her advice and I still do it today – you won’t believe the difference it makes. The feeling of perfectly clean teeth is great and there is much less bad breath, which mostly comes from the unclean spaces between the teeth. And recently I decided to take another step in the clean teeth direction.
My boyfriend recommended an electric toothbrush a while ago, but I didn’t really believe it could have a big effect, other than a hole in my wallet. But one day he convinced me, and with a shrug I stood in front of the mirror, grabbed my new Oral-B electric toothbrush, connected it to my smart phone app and started brushing.
Until now I had the habit of pressing down hard on my teeth to get as clean as possible, but as it turns out that’s not very effective. This toothbrush lights up red if it senses too much pressure, and I am already unlearning this bad habit. The optimal brushing time is 2 minutes, and the toothbrush lets you know when it’s time to move to the next area of the mouth – every 30 seconds it stops vibrating for a moment. After brushing the feeling is indescribably different compared to a regular toothbrush. The teeth are smooth, polished and truly CLEAN.
I wish I had this toothbrush back when I wore my braces, as there are special toothbrush attachments just for this purpose, and they make cleaning your braces easier. Soon I’ll try out the special teeth-whitening attachment – I’m interested to see if it will make a difference. In the end I think that having clean looking teeth is much more important than having perfectly straight teeth. We are all unique and even if a tooth or two are a bit out of place, it can look cute and special. Brush your teeth and take care of your oral hygiene , and you will take a huge step towards a beautiful and confident smile.
I don’t think I’ll be going back to a regular toothbrush, I’m so excited about my electric one I’m thinking about buying them for my sister and parents too, since we’re all “dental hygiene freaks”.
What do you think about electric toothbrushes, and dental hygiene in general? I will be happy to read your comments at the end of the page.
