Think you brush your teeth well? Chances are, you’re doing it wrong

September 25, 2026 — 11:30am

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Brushing your teeth is boring, a periodontist confessed before he retired after nearly 60 years of showing patients like me how to do it to avoid gum disease that can affect overall health.

His parting message – and he wouldn’t let me use his name – was telling me about research that proved what he had discovered in a lifetime in the profession.

Most of us are lousy at cleaning our teeth. In research replicated around the world, 111 students were asked to brush their teeth to the “best of their ability” or brush their teeth “as usual”.

Those who did it to the best of their ability brushed for longer but didn’t do it better.

They also brushed harder, which was not only ineffective at removing the plaque that accumulates in our mouths, it can also damage the gums.

Researchers say there is hardly any health behaviour performed by such a large proportion of the world’s population as regularly as cleaning your teeth.

That’s a big win for health. Yet the results are still imperfect.

Andrew Terry, a senior lecturer teaching dentists and oral health therapists at the School of Dentistry at the University of Sydney, says about 30 per cent of Australian adults have moderate to severe gum disease........

© The Sydney Morning Herald