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Published: 28 June 2023

Kickstart your dental health

Author: Dr Gemma Wheeler, BDS (Leave a comment)
Jon showing smile

On this page we’ve condensed our main advice to help you improve your dental health.

If you're feeling motivated to make some change, this page will give you a very quick overview of what you need to do. See the products we recommend, and those we don't.

Our main advice

  • Don’t spend too much on an electric toothbrush. The brush we recommend as the best overall is the Oral-B Pro 2 2000. This is far cheaper than some of the top end toothbrushes and has the features our dentists recommend as essential. 
  • Smart toothbrushes generally aren’t worth it.
  • Flossing is important. Interdental brushes are the most effective, but find the tool that works best for you and turn flossing into a habit.
  • Be careful with teeth whitening — it can permanently damage your teeth when professional advice is not followed.
  • Brush your teeth twice a day for 2 minutes.
  • Use toothpaste containing fluoride.
  • After brushing spit the toothpaste out, but don’t rinse it off your teeth.
  • Don’t brush immediately after eating, or if you've had a fizzy drink.
  • Keep sugary drinks and foods to meal times only. Avoid sugar between meals.
  • Looking after your dental health prevents dental treatment and is a good way to look after the planet.

Products we recommend

Below is a quick list of the products we recommend for a healthy dental routine.

Best electric toothbrush

The Pro 2 2000 is the brush we recommend as the best overall electric toothbrush. It's good value for money and has the main features dentists recommend. We go into more detail in our best electric toothbrush post.

Best manual toothbrush

If you're looking for a reliable and good value manual toothbrush, the Curaprox CS 5460 is a good place to start:

Curaprox CS 5460 Ultra Soft Toothbrush (3 Pack)
Curaprox CS 5460 Ultra Soft Toothbrush (3 Pack)

Best interdental brushes

Interdental brushes are the most effective tool for flossing. There is a wide variety to choose from, but as a good place to get started, Piksters does a mixed pack of different sizes. If you speak to your dental professional, they can help you to determine the optimum sizes for your teeth.

Best water flosser

A water flosser is another type of interdental cleaning tool that is popular. We include more recommendations and details in our best water flossers post, but the two we recommend the most are:

Corded (countertop)

Waterpik Ultra Professional
Waterpik Ultra Professional
Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1

Cordless (portable)

Waterpik Cordless Advanced
Waterpik Cordless Advanced
Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1 Kickstart your dental health 1

Products we don't recommend

Don’t waste your money on unproven products. 

We have a video here that goes into more detail, but a few of the products we currently don’t recommend include: 

  • Mouthpiece toothbrushes
  • Ultrasonic teeth cleaners
  • Snap on veneers
  • Online teeth straightening

Sign up below to stay up to date with other products we advise against.

Jon testing mouthpiece toothbrush
Mouthpiece toothbrushes aren't yet effective enough to completely replace a regular electric toothbrush

Learn how to look after your teeth

The video below also summarises all of the advice you need to have a healthy oral hygiene routine, but in brief the main things you can do are: 

In brief, the main things you can do are: 

  • Learn how to brush your teeth properly
  • Use plaque disclosing tablets to monitor your technique
  • Brush your teeth twice per day
  • Clean interdentally once per day
  • Regularly visit the dentist
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Stay up to date, impress your dentist

We send our a quarterly email newsletter with dental health tips and news about new products.

Impress your dentist by staying up to date.

No spam, just good advice (and the occasional bribe) every few months.

Kickstart your dental health 17 Find out which products are worth buying (and which aren't)
Kickstart your dental health 17 Quarterly updates
Kickstart your dental health 17 No spam
Author: Dr Gemma Wheeler, BDS

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Jon brushing large dental model of mouth
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