Do Electric Toothbrushes Have The Edge Over Manual Toothbrushes?

Brushing one’s teeth, with a manual or an electric toothbrush, is the most critical aspect of maintaining dental hygiene. Whichever toothbrush you use is a personal choice as both peels away the plaque and scrub off the maleficent bacteria from your mouth—though electric toothbrushes can be a little more efficient in tooth cleaning.

However, you must not lose focus from brushing your teeth the right way, as bacteria will multiply and plaque will build up causing a litany of dental diseases such as gingivitis, then periodontitis, and eventually lead to tooth decay and tooth loss. As Dr. Lopez Howell, spokesperson for the American Dental Association (ADA), explains, “There’s a biofilm of bacteria that builds up in our mouths and our teeth and even in our gums. If it’s not removed, this biofilm becomes what we know as plaque.”

Electric Or Manual?

When comparing manual and electric toothbrushes, a common fact to remember is to use fluoride-rich toothpaste that inure your tooth’s surface thereby protecting you from cavities. Many dentists recommend electric toothbrushes on the back of various dental studies, though they have no significant advantages over manual toothbrushes.

A 2014 dental study published in the Cochrane Library made 51 adults and children randomly brush their teeth using electric or manual toothbrushes for at least four weeks. The researchers said, “There was an 11 percent reduction in plaque in one to three months of use, and a 21 percent reduction in plaque when assessed after three months of use. For gingivitis, there was a 6 percent reduction in one to three months of use and an 11 percent reduction when assessed after three months of use.”

While the study established that electric toothbrushes are slightly better than their manual counterparts, the evidence doesn’t present a significant percentage difference. “Most of these studies do show an electric brush of one sort or another removes a bit more bacteria than manual brush. But the differences tend to be pretty minimal. Not that they aren’t significant, but there’s not a huge black-and-white difference between being able to maintain good oral health using a manual toothbrush and an electric one,” periodontist Dr. Steven Daniel told SELF website.

Ease of use is a factor in choosing either way to brush teeth. Dr. Howell notes, “One isn’t better than the other. But sometimes the individual person will use one more easily than the other.”

Why An Electric Toothbrush Makes Sense

Electric toothbrushes utilize the cleaning trifecta of vibration, rotation, and oscillation to clean teeth instead of relying on the person to make these motions individually. While there are many varieties of toothbrushes that can do these jobs, electric toothbrushes have an added advantage of wider handles, which makes them more accessible to people with problems brought on by aging, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis.

Electric toothbrush bristles are also designed to be thinner, pointier, and clustered, and that makes them more proficient at targeted teeth cleaning, which makes them more accessible to people with braces or dental restorations. An electric toothbrush is also equipped with timers and can assist children and adults to brush for the recommended two minutes.

Some people tend to be aggressive while brushing. It can cause gum recession and heightened dental sensitivity. Electric toothbrushes are mechanized and help users to relax let the brush do all the work. If you press your electric toothbrush too hard against your teeth, the built-in pressure sensors will stop the motor of your brush.

What’s The Recommendation Of The ADA?

ADA recommends a soft-bristled toothbrush, or you will end up damaging your gums and induce tiny notches in your teeth. Secondly, the ADA stresses on brushing your teeth for a minimum of two minutes at least twice each day. Thirdly, they make a recommendation of maintaining a 45-degree angle between your toothbrush and your teeth and gum line while brushing.

Fourthly, the ideal brushing motion is short back and forth strokes followed by vertically tilted up and down strokes on the outside and the inside of your teeth. Lastly, the ADA stresses the importance of using a new toothbrush every three to four months. “If those bristles are frayed, they’re not going to be able to get into the little crevices around each of your teeth and get the job done. You won’t be as efficient in that plaque removal,” says As Dr. Howell.

The Deciding Factor

It doesn’t matter which brush you use: what matters is the kind of brush you like to use. In many instances, the electric toothbrushes provide the ease and convenience that’s otherwise missing from manual toothbrushes.

“People have individual needs and abilities and skills. If an electric toothbrush helps them stay healthy and avoid having additional decay, it can wind up being a good investment. Sometimes it really makes a difference in people who are struggling to stay healthy but always on that ragged edge of falling back into disease and infection,” says Dr. Daniel.

Moreover, a manual toothbrush has proved its mettle. “We’ve been brushing our teeth with manual toothbrushes forever, and it’s worked,” says Dr. Howell.