How to clean your electric toothbrush?

To have an optimal oral hygiene, it is necessary, among other things, to use a good quality and well maintained material. One way to do this is to regularly clean your toothbrush, whether it's electric or manual. So why should we do it? And what are the different methods that exist to effectively clean your toothbrush?

Why should you clean your toothbrush?

Here are the reasons why you should clean your toothbrush regularly:

• Your bathroom provides an ideal environment for bacteria to grow and mold to form, mainly due to the humidity in the bathroom.
• The micro-organisms that get caught on the bristles of your toothbrush, whether manual or electric, can be harmful to our oral health.

How to clean your toothbrush?

It is necessary to distinguish 2 types of cleaning:

Routine cleaning

It must be done after each brushing. It consists of rinsing the head of the toothbrush thoroughly with a powerful jet of clear tap water in order to eliminate food and toothpaste residues. Then, open the hot water on the head for a good 10 seconds in order to eliminate the fatty substances attached to the hair.

Find below a video explaining how to properly maintain your electric toothbrush :

Maintenance cleaning

It consists of immersing your head overnight in the toothbrush in a solution containing white vinegar (50% water, 50% vinegar) every 2 days, and in a solution containing bleach (1 tablespoon of bleach in a glass of water) every week. The day after these operations, simply rinse the brush thoroughly with hot water to use it.

In the following section, we suggest other methods to effectively clean your toothbrush, whether it is manual or electric. It's up to you to choose the one that suits you best:

• Mouthwash: Soak your toothbrush in a glass containing a mouthwash solution for about half an hour. Just as mouthwash removes bacteria from your mouth, it also removes the bacteria left on your toothbrush after brushing.
• White vinegar and baking soda: disinfect your toothbrush using a solution obtained by mixing a glass of hot water, a tablespoon of white vinegar and a tsp of baking soda. Dip the head of your toothbrush into this mixture and let it soak overnight. The chemical reaction that occurs between the different ingredients will destroy any remaining bacteria. The next day, rinse it thoroughly with clean water before using it.

• UV sterilization: this is the fastest and most effective method. All you have to do is expose your toothbrush to UV rays for 10 minutes using a small device available in stores. This results in a toothbrush that is 99.99% free of microorganisms.
• Disinfection in the microwave: you just have to put your manual toothbrush or the brush of your electric toothbrush (only the brush), for 1 minute at 600W. This action must be exceptional at the risk of damaging the hairs of your material.