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Published: 28 June 2023

Kickstart your dental health

Author: Dr Gemma Wheeler, BDS (Hons)
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.
  • Learn about ways in which you can reduce the environmental impact of your dental health.

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.

Oral-B Pro 2 2000
Oral-B Pro 2 2000
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Best manual toothbrush

We recommend brushes in a few different categories in our best manual toothbrush post, but if you're looking for a reliable and good value brush, 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 and we offer more options in our best interdental brushes post, but Piksters are a good choice. We also have a post on the best flossing tools that covers the various options for interdental cleaning.

Best water flosser

A water flosser is another type of interdental cleaning tool that is popular. We have posts that cover corded and cordless water flossers. See our two favourites below.

Corded (countertop)

Waterpik Ultra Professional
Waterpik Ultra Professional
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Cordless (portable)

Waterpik Cordless Advanced
Waterpik Cordless Advanced
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Best toothpaste

It's hard to say definitively which toothpaste is best, but we have a post here that lists a few every day options. We've included one of those picks — Oral-B Gum and enamel restore — below. Our toothpaste hub page also recommends toothpastes by specific categories.

Oral-B Gum Care and Enamel Restore
Oral-B Gum Care and Enamel Restore

Products we don't recommend

Don’t waste your money on unproven products. 

We keep a full list here, 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

We have a full guide on how to keep your teeth and gums healthy. The video below also summarises all of the advice you need to have a healthy oral hygiene routine.

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 (Hons)

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Jon brushing large dental model of mouth
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