This thought occurred to me when I was looking for a medium bristled toothbrush the other day at the drugstore. I remembered once when I went to the dentist I was told not to use firm bristled toothbrush because they are not good for the gums. I thought then why do they even sell them in the stores? I wondered if anyone else was told this by their dentist.
The softer the better, that is what i was told by my dentist. It sometimes feel as if the hard bristle is doing a lot of work due to the fact that it allows you to feel the firmness on your gum as opposed to the soft ones. I was actually informed that the hard ones actually damages the gum quite often! The brand makes the world of difference as well. If you were to examine some brushes, you would notice that they have just a large number of the same length and size bristles right throughout. A good toothbrush has bristles of varying length and size to effectively get to those hard to reach places in your mouth when needed. I stick to two main brands as i find they gives me the best results; Colgate and Reach.
Yep, the softer the better. What's most important is getting between the teeth, with floss. The rest is keeping everything from adhering between meals, which you don't need firm bristles for. Soft bristles do a great job if you're cleaning your teeth properly. Also, the cleaner your food, the easier the job. Your teeth are extremely important when it comes to our health, so doing things properly should be top priority for everyone and hard bristles are just damaging and can cause the first sign of problems.
Even though I am aware that firm has its down side. I cannot use a soft bristled brush. I find they don't remove plaque as well and my teeth simply do not feel clean
I use the soft ones and i confess I am bad, i use them when they are worn down. My teeth used to bleed, I guess I am just to aggressive, the dentist said there is no disease like gingivitis or anything, just sensitive gums. So from that point on I use a softer brush. I always use the same type and brand of toothpaste too I like original Colgate, if I absolutely cannot get that I will settle for close up white, not the gel. Weird I know, but Colgate is the only one I feel does a great job and does not make my mouth feel weird or gritty.
Over the past year, I have had many dental problems, and I have had a lot of work done. So I am always very cautious about what will help my teeth these days. Toothbrush bristle density is one of those things. I didn't ask my dentist for advice on this topic, but I rather found out by myself that the bristles of my brush were much too hard for my teeth in their current condition. After brushing, I'd experience some pain on my left side, and it would continue to hurt for about five days. I got a new brush with softer bristles and I still get pain sometimes but it helps.
I prefer soft to medium bristles. I really dislike the firm harsh ones because they hurt my gums. I find that if they are too soft they don't seem to take off the dirt as it should either, so I like the bristles soft enough that they are gentle but still able to remove all that it's supposed to remove! I also usually go for big toothbrushes that have some rubber in the ends, which are supposed to massage gums or something like that. Those are usually very comfortable.
See? Most of the people that I talk to prefer or use the soft to medium bristles for their toothbrushes. I can't work out why anyone would choose to purchase the toothbrushes with the hard bristles??? Like, I have never in my life met a person who enjoys the pain that comes along with the harder bristles. They hurt my gums a lot, and my mother even experienced bleeding before transitioning to the softer/medium brushes.
I used to like firm bristles a lot more just because I can feel it more but after a while I figured that it probably wasn't too good that I was using someone as abrasive on my teeth so I switched to a medium one. I don't think I could go for the softer versions because I like a bit of pressure but maybe if someday I felt I needed to be a bit more gentle then I would consider it but for now I'm satisfied with just using mediums.
Because, as you can see.. many people aren't experiencing clean feeling teeth after brushing with soft bristles. That, to me, means the foods they're eating aren't appropriate for healthy teeth.. or they're not brushing often enough maybe? The foods you eat should have no problems being brushed away.. if that's an issue, it's not the brush that is the problem.
I always use soft bristled toothbrushes because I can feel the damage I do to my gums with the medium and hard ones. Even before my dentist told me the soft bristled ones were the best I always went for those. My only problem now is that I brush too intensely. Once I tone down the strength I use to brush my teeth my gums will be much healthier.
I use the firm bristle because I have been used to really scrub off my teeth real hard. So when I get one that's soft, it just feels like for me that it's not working and that I need something else harder. I am not able to distinguish medium bristles to soft ones. It feels like there's really no great difference.
