--- title: Dentists Disagree On How To Brush Your Teeth description: What's the right way to brush your teeth? New research suggests that the experts don't really know. canonical: https://time.com/3093157/dentists-teeth-brushing/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-08T17:27:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:34:35.064Z article:section: Health og:title: Dentists Disagree On How To Brush Your Teeth og:description: What's the right way to brush your teeth? New research suggests that the experts don't really know. og:url: https://time.com/3093157/dentists-teeth-brushing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt865846b9fc5fe3a9/69869ee71eebf76c453722e2/170471010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Young boy brushing teeth, Italy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dentists Disagree On How To Brush Your Teeth twitter:description: What's the right way to brush your teeth? New research suggests that the experts don't really know. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt865846b9fc5fe3a9/69869ee71eebf76c453722e2/170471010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Even Dentists Disagree On How To Brush Your Teeth  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 8, 2014 5:27 PM UTC  Young boy brushing teeth, Italy. (Photo by: Godong/UIG via Getty Images) Young boy brushing teeth, Italy. (Photo by: Godong/UIG via Getty Images)Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 8, 2014 5:27 PM UTC What’s the right way to brush your teeth? New research suggests that the experts don’t really know. The study, published in the _British Dental Journal_, said that teeth-brushing advice provided to consumers is “unacceptably inconsistent” in its description of how often to brush and for how long. “The wide range of recommendations we found is likely due to the lack of strong evidence suggesting that one method is conclusively better than another,” said lead author John Wainwright in a University College London press release. The discrepancy is problematic, Wainwright said, because it leads to distrust in dentists and their profession. “For something most people do twice a day, you would expect dentists to send a clearer, more unified message to their patients on how to brush their teeth,” said Wainwright, who now works as a dentist. Hopefully the dental community doesn’t brush off his advice. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3093157/dentists-teeth-brushing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3093157/dentists-teeth-brushing/"},"headline":"Even Dentists Disagree On How To Brush Your Teeth","datePublished":"2014-08-08T17:27:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:34:35.064Z","description":"A study describes the different views as 'unacceptably inconsistent'","url":"https://time.com/3093157/dentists-teeth-brushing/","keywords":["Health Care","Studies","Research","health","dentists","teeth"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt865846b9fc5fe3a9/69869ee71eebf76c453722e2/170471010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt865846b9fc5fe3a9/69869ee71eebf76c453722e2/170471010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Young boy brushing teeth, Italy","caption":"Young boy brushing teeth, Italy","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3093157/dentists-teeth-brushing/","name":"Even Dentists Disagree On How To Brush Your Teeth"}}]}] ```