[kaliszad]

If you brush for only 2 minutes, I strongly suggest to make an appointment with a respected dental hygienist as soon as possible as you are almost guaranteed to have an insufficient dental hygiene. Best case with a good electric toothbrush and interdental brushes it probably takes 4-6 minutes for the electric toothbrush and a minute or two for the interdental brushes assuming almost ideal teeth.

More info in a sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38758871

[getlawgdon]

I've brushed for no more than 2 minutes 2x/day for basically my entire lifetime. I have no cavities at 50. At each cleaning at various dentists the hygienist has remarked how little buildup I have and the dentist typically reports my teeth and gums as in superb health. I drink coffee regularly. So I think your comment is nonsense for me.

But interestingly in your comments here and elsewhere about brushing, I see no mention of one of the most -- if not the most-- important kinds of brushing, which is using a flossing brush with, crucially, the right technique, which is not much like other brushing, plus baking soda and a drop of 3% peroxide. Most dental offices aren't teaching this at all, but there is plenty of review of standard brushing "at the gumline and on the surfaces of the teeth", as well as plenty of new and hyped imaging types or surreptitious promotion of dental products...* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cow6wNRJqoo

This is in addition to standard brushing.

[kaliszad]

It seems interdental brushes are a kind of flossing brushes perhaps? It is quite important to use the right size(s) of interdental brushes - that can be measured at your dental hygiene appointment. I am quite lucky I can get by with two distinct sizes.

I fear mixing sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) with a bit of low concentration peroxide is more or less going to cancel each other out chemically and the suspension is going to have an abrasive effect on the plaque/ tartar buildup but also your tooth enamel. However I am going to ask about it.

Hydrogen peroxide can whiten your teeth a bit but can also cause higher sensitivity. On its own it shouldn't hurt and it will act as a disinfectant but probably shouldn't be used long term on a regular basis. If you have an infection I would recommend using chlorhexidine < 2% concentration (2 % is only prescribed and is really disgusting, 0.2% can be bought in a pharmacy without prescription and is obviously not that strong but also far less disgusting). You probably should not use it for longer than ~2 weeks but as it has a hardly bearable taste you will happily stop using it as soon as possible.

[xboxnolifes]

There is no way this is correct. You yourself say that specifically, 2 minutes is a myth, but give no reason that it should be 4+ minutes.

[kaliszad]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38761906

[viraptor]

There are people with lots of issues, there are people who never had issues better toothpaste was common. It really depends on a lot of factors including diet. Don't be so quick to judge others' approach to dental hygiene.

[kaliszad]

Would you read my sibling comment I linked, you would know that the toothpaste is not that important. You can successfully brush without it and not have problems. Yes a sugary or acidic diet is worse for your teeth.

The 4-6 minutes and 1-2 minutes interdental is based on an estimate by a professional dental hygienist. The most correct instruction of course being that you should brush your teeth until they are clean.

[10u152]

Fiddlesticks.

I brunch ONCE a day for 2 minutes with an electric toothbrush and have essentially perfect tooth health. I also floss every day. My dentist at my most recent checkup said “whatever you’re doing just keep doing it”

[kaliszad]

Sure, that is already better than the average. If you feel your gums are healthy and teeth are clean sure, keep going as you are.

It is different in each country, but usually a dental hygienist has a slightly different viewpoint than a dentist. Some dentists don't care that much for gum health - they make money repairing/ extracting teeth after all and some are little too greedy. Dental hygienists are evaluated based on how well they prevent damage and further health issues/ heal the existing problems. They make more money initially when they perform deep scaling (if they are legally allowed to do that in that country) or later when your teeth are healthy doing clinical whitening. Regular dental hygiene is only mildly lucrative. Good deep scaling is exhausting however so you cannot do more than a 2-3 deep scaling patients per day if you are thorough. You have to fill out the day ideally with normal hygiene, ideally stabilized patients where it is more a checkup. Whitening is the best bang for the buck so to say. Not exhausting, more money per time than regular hygiene session.

[d3w4s9]

Huh, I have been doing 2 minutes for years (probably just like most other electric toothbrush users) and have regular dental appointments at different locations. No dental hygienist or dentist ever raised any issue over my dental hygiene. I'd take their opinion over a random person on the Internet.

[kaliszad]

Please read the sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38761906

[phito]

What? All the electric toothbrush I have come with a two minutes timer. Never had a single cavity.

[kaliszad]

There is no particular reason it should be 2 minutes. Certainly not for both jaws, if you took 2 minutes per jaw that would be more reasonable.

The point of this timer is probably (I don't know that for a fact) to push most people to brush much longer than they would as most people still brush for only 30-45 seconds a day.