Dr. Katie To shows that brushing with water alone removes more plaque than rushing through with toothpaste. She uses biofilm dye to reveal what stays behind after 24, 48, and 72 hours, arguing you need to master the technique first and brush longer than the standard 20 to 30 seconds.
It's not a requirement to brush with toothpaste. This is like new information because the act of brushing is remove the biofilm on our teeth. And most people, when they have the toothpaste on, they don't brush as long and therefore the biofilm is still on the teeth. How do we know that? Because we put the Plaque ID or the biofilm identification solution on their teeth and we see all the colors, how long they've been on there. 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours. Regardless what toothpaste you're going to use, first of all, you have to master the act of brushing. It's not that hard. You just have to brush long enough and be patient. Most people, they brush for 20, 30 seconds. They think they brush for like 3 minutes. So number one is you have to learn how to brush with water first. As you master the process of brushing, you can tell by your tongue if your teeth still have biofilms on it.
