Brushing your enamel with an excessive amount of pressure could cause everlasting harm to the essential enamel construction. However how a lot pressure is an excessive amount of? The Zent flex toothbrush provides an elegantly easy answer that guarantees you at all times brush with precisely the proper force.

My preliminary impact of the speculation at the back of the Zent Flex toothbrush was once, “That’s sensible!”  There are identical ideas in electrical toothbrushes that beep at you or flash a purple gentle when the consumer makes use of an excessive amount of force, however they don’t in fact prevent the pressure.  We at all times advise sufferers to comb gently with a soft-bristled toothbrush.  In any case, it takes little or no force to take away dental plaque from the enamel.  However in my enjoy, there are some individuals who simply can’t appear to reduce the force they use.  The original design of the click joint within the Zent Flex toothbrush could also be precisely what they want.

Enamel tooth is the toughest construction within the human frame, a lot tougher than bones.  It’s imaginable, albeit tricky, to automatically abrade (steadily put on away) tooth.  Tooth abrasion isn’t our largest fear with deficient brushing method, even though.  

There are two critical penalties of an competitive toothbrushing method: 1) gum recession, and a couple of) root abrasion.

Even though deficient brushing method isn’t the principle reason behind gum recession, it’s indisputably a contributing think about many instances.  The gum tissues surrounding the enamel are somewhat subtle, so any irrelevant pressure can make them again clear of that perceived damage.  Gum recession in itself is unhealthy as a result of this can be a lack of attachment between the enamel and the underlying jawbone.  Gums that experience receded don’t develop again.  Serious gum recession can require gum grafting surgical procedure to fix the defects.

Within the attention of deficient brushing method, a recession is phenomenally unhealthy as it exposes the roots of the enamel, expanding the chance for the second one end result of onerous brushing: root abrasion.  Root abrasion is a lot more most likely than tooth abrasion since the roots of enamel would not have a protecting tooth coating.  As a substitute, the roots are lined in a skinny layer of cementum, which may be very vulnerable to abrasion.  As soon as the cementum is long past, the underlying dentin (the most important element of enamel) is uncovered, resulting in a top chance for cavities and enamel sensitivity.  Like gums, cementum and dentin don’t regenerate on their very own.  If serious abrasion happens, dental restorations could be vital to fix the defects.

The Zent Flex mechanism of “breaking” the joint at 150g of pressure is acceptable according to clinical analysis in regards to the pressure required to take away dental plaque as opposed to the pressure that damages dentin.  Analysis helps (and it simply is sensible) that expanding pressure will build up plaque removing.  That’s the entire level of brushing: to take away the sticky movie of plaque that comprises disease-causing micro organism.  One day, even though, that expanding pressure will take away now not handiest the plaque but in addition the dentin to which it’s caught!

The edge of 150 grams of pressure may be an authorized standardized quantity for Toothbrushing as the precise quantity of force.  We see this within the checking out protocols that the American Dental Affiliation makes use of in its Relative Dentin Abrasivity (RDA) index.  They use 150g of pressure when checking out the abrasion attainable of quite a lot of types of toothpaste.

The rationale dentin is so crucial to this dialog is that it comprises tiny pores, referred to as tubules, which create a conversation between the oral surroundings and the nerve inside of every enamel.  Chemical or mechanical processes that open or widen those tubules will open that conversation, which means you’re going to be much more likely to really feel sizzling, chilly, and candy sensations within the nerve.  This learn about presentations that the usage of a decrease pressure when brushing in fact is helping to shrink the ones tiny pores, decreasing sensitivity considerably.

[Side note: While sensitivity is a more common consequence of open dentinal tubules, we also need to worry about cavities.  The open pores in dentin increase the risk for bacterial contamination, and therefore increase the risk for cavities on these exposed root surfaces.]

After the usage of the comb myself, I used to be stunned to be told that I brush too onerous!  I’m a dentist!  After all, I imagine myself to be somebody with a really perfect brushing method.  All the way through my first use of the Zentflex, it was once onerous to prevent giggling at myself since the clicking joint broke time and again.  I did really feel, as I brushed, that I would possibly had been lacking spaces, which brought about me to pay shut consideration to how totally I used to be masking the enamel.

The comb itself is comfy and well-constructed.  The bristles really feel soft-to-medium-soft.  (Extra importantly, they felt a lot softer after the click joint broke at 150g of pressure.)  As I endured brushing, I realized that I used to be steadily changing my strategy to stay the joint from breaking, so I feel this brush carries nice attainable for coaching folks in the precise quantity of toothbrushing pressure.  If that is the one toothbrush you utilize, I imagine that through the years you could possibly expand a brushing method that may now not purpose the joint to damage.

Conclusion

This toothbrush can be a stupendous instrument for somebody with delicate enamel, gum recession, root publicity, or just a naturally heavy brushing method.  I like to recommend it for the ones explicit folks because of its protecting skills and its coaching attainable.  It additionally has the good thing about being a lot more economical than the common electrical toothbrushes that advertise the similar protecting purposes.

Dr. Lara Coseo

Dr. Lara Coseo, (DDS, FAGD) is a 2004 graduate of Baylor School of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas. Having practiced common dentistry for 13 years, Dr. Lara these days serves as an Affiliate Professor at Texas A&M School of Dentistry.