Best toothpastes and their benefits for proper dental hygiene

Do you want to know which are the best toothpastes? Nowadays, no one doubts the importance of maintaining proper oral hygiene, as it is not only about aesthetics or appearance, but something even more important: your health itself.

Poor dental hygiene can cause much more than aesthetic problems, as some oral infections and dental issues can become serious threats to your health if they are not treated or dealt with in time.

Although it may seem obvious or basic, oral care starts with the essentials: regular tooth brushing done properly.

And in this simple formula, using a suitable toothpaste plays an essential role. At Farmaciasdirect, we explain it all.

Which are the best toothpastes?

These are some of the best toothpastes currently available on the market:

• Oral-B Junior. This Oral-B toothpaste, suitable for adults or children over 6 years old, is a mint-flavoured toothpaste made with two types of fluoride, with strong antibacterial action, for proper and complete oral hygiene.
• Oral-B Pro Expert. Oral-B Professional Protection toothpaste is one of the best-known toothpastes in our country. Its formula with stannous fluoride provides long-lasting protection with an anti-sugar shield, helping to fight the main oral health problems such as plaque, tooth decay and sensitivity.
• Parodontax Extra Fresh. This Parodontax toothpaste offers complete fluoride protection recommended for daily use, while also tackling all the usual oral hygiene problems. Fresh breath, long-lasting cleanliness and whiter teeth.

The importance of a good toothpaste

Brushing your teeth 3 times a day is essential if you want to avoid unwanted visits to the dentist beyond regular check-ups, and everyone already knows that.

What is less common knowledge is that it is also important to brush properly, using the correct technique, as many children never learn how to brush their teeth well, and as a result spend their whole lives brushing little more than the front teeth and giving the rest the quickest once-over, all in less than a minute.

However, even less well known is the fact that toothpaste plays a vital role, and that not everyone should use the same one. Felipe Rivera, a dentist at Centros Médicos Vidaintegra, tells us that the main ingredient in most toothpastes is none other than fluoride, an element with multiple benefits for our teeth and oral health in general.

It is important to emphasise that what matters here is the quality of the toothpaste itself and not the amount used: Felipe Rivera himself states that an amount of toothpaste roughly the size of a chickpea should be used for each brushing.

Using more is not harmful, but it does not provide any benefit either: you will simply be wasting product and, therefore, money as well.

Benefits of toothpaste

Good brushing with the right toothpaste has many benefits:

• Fights and prevents tooth decay
• Removes plaque
• Remineralises teeth
• Removes stains
• Fights bad breath

Most toothpastes perform all of these functions properly, although depending on their composition they will be more suitable for some uses than others.

Toothpastes with a high fluoride content, for example, are more effective at fighting plaque and remineralising teeth, but they should not be used by children under six years old, who should use children's toothpastes.

Whitening toothpastes, on the other hand, are usually harmless in most cases, but in some circumstances they can erode teeth or cause sensitivity issues, so it is always best to check with a dentist first.

In addition, for the benefits of toothpaste to be maximised, they should be combined both with a good brushing technique, without neglecting the back of the teeth, the gums and the tongue, and with the use of dental floss, which reaches where a toothbrush cannot.

It is also necessary to change your toothbrush every 2 to 3 months.