Everyone knows to brush your teeth two times a day for a duration of two minutes each session but how many tips below did you know before?

1. Don’t Brush Teeth Immediately After Eating

Do an experiment. Eat an Oreo cookie and immediately brush your teeth then spit. How much Oreo remained? Do the same test 30 minutes and an hour after eating a cookie and see how dark your spit is after each round. There is a lot of food debris that gets left behind if you brush immediately after eating. Try drinking or rinsing your mouth with water first if you want to brush sooner than later.

2. When Kids Can Brush On Their Own

Parents should brush their children's’ teeth until the age when the child can start writing in cursive. Hopefully their school teaches that or you will be brushing their teeth for a long time! This is usually around 3rd grade or age 8.

3. Don’t Rinse With Water Right After Brushing

When you rinse your mouth with water right after brushing you are simply washing away the "medicine." The longer fluoride sticks to your teeth the more effective it can protect your teeth from cavities. Spit and don't rinse.

4. How Often to Replace Your Toothbrush

Replace your toothbrush every 3 months. Frayed toothbrushes are completely ineffective. From a bird's eye view, if the bristles are visibly covering up the backside of the toothbrush, it is time to change it.

5. Bristles (Hard vs Soft)

Don’t use a hard-bristled brush, ever, Even the ones labeled “Soft” at the store are usually still too hard. We recommend the Nimbus if you do not use an automatic toothbrush.

6. Sharing a Toothbrush With a Loved One

Surprisingly, 1 in 4 couples have shared toothbrushes! The same argument does not apply that since you kiss the person it should be OK. Liken a toothbrush to a mop. It is scrubbing off all the debris, bacteria, grime, and plaque that sit on the bristles. In a pinch, just use your finger with toothpaste if you had to. Don't use another's toothbrush... or lick a mop--both are equally gross!

7. What's the Only Ingredient That Prevents Cavities?

Fluoride is the only known agent that effectively prevents and protects teeth from cavities. Any toothpaste that does not contain fluoride or is considered natural falls short from those expectations regardless what the bottle claims.

8. Brush Your Tongue

The largest aggregate of colony bacteria live on your tongue. By not brushing your tongue it will lead to bad breath, tonsil stones, hairy tongue, and create an environment for cavities to fester even with diligent even if you brush two times a day.

9. Storing a Toothbrush

For how much bacteria is on your toothbrush do not keep your toothbrush stored in the same cup touching someone else's. When packing it for travel in a sealed container, assure that the brush is dry first or else bacterial colonization will compound while sealed.

10. Automatic Toothbrushes

Research shows that properly brushing using an old-school, manual toothbrush can be just as effective as an automatic toothbrush. However, most people don’t brush properly. Just get an automatic toothbrush and you’ll notice the difference!