To think it takes a lot longer than 2 mins to clean your teeth properly?

[Tobythecat]

It takes me a good 5 minutes to thoroughly clean my teeth - who the fuck said it takes 2 minutes? I clean all along the gum line, the spaces between, especially the harder to reach ones at the back and the molars. If I only spent 2 minutes my teeth wouldn't be properly cleaned.

Am I doing it wrong and being to thorough? I wish it didn't take so long. I floss daily too and brush my tongue.

My dentist says five minutes, twice a day. Anything less is neglecting. He did say that's for manual toothbrushes though, he hasn't commented about electric ones mainly because I use a manual one.

It depends in the teeth in question. I do a couple of minutes with an electric toothbrush and never floss. I haven't needed any dental work in over 20 years.

Last time I went, the dentist made a half hearted case for flossing but then gave up as what I'm doing is working ok for me.

Other people do a lot more but have a lot more dental problems. It seems entirely the luck of the draw.

I use an electric one and always go way passed the timer I tend to count brushes in my head for each side of the tooth (off I know) and yes yes yes to tongue scraping!! I have a special tongue scraper for this purpose I don't feel clean if I haven't used it and honestly it gets rid of bad breath - I love it!! I am not good at flossing so I think I over compensate with the brushing!!

Wasn't there a Mitchell and Webb sketch taking the piss out of the things advertisers get away with, the gist of which was 'I think we can convince people to brush their tongues'?

Didn't realise it was something people did. Do you teach your DC to brush their teeth and then their tongue?