Brushing Your Teeth Left-Handed
While not the biggest challenge in a right-handed world, brushing your teeth for left-handers isn't as straightforward as you think.
You may not be aware but this week is international left handers week. This week, first observed in as National Left-Handers Day in the US on the 13th August 1976 and formed in the UK in 1992, is intended to bring left-handed awareness more into the public eye.
It is estimated that around 1 in every 10 people is left-handed, that may be more than many of you would have guessed. When we broaden the lens, and view this on a global scale, the number of left-handers is huge.
I, as a right-hander take things for granted that left-handers routinely struggle with such as using a can opener, or a pair of scissors. Even many artistic endeavours such as playing the guitar, are designed with right-handers in mind.
Moreover, some of the most basic of unavoidable everyday tasks can bring up issues for left-handers, a prime example of this is writing, with the hand having to be tilted to not smudge what has just been written, a problem us right-handers thankfully never have to contend with.
For a long time, catering to left-handers was an unseized business opportunity, but these days there is much more for left-handers to get excited about with many more industries seeing the benefit of having a market tailored towards the left-handed population.
Toothbrushing for left-handers
With ever-evolving advancements in toothbrush technology, many more brushes may have angled ergonomic designs or special brush heads that may be difficult for left-handers to use.
To this end there are actually now toothbrushes designed for left-handers specifically and a simple Google search for a ‘left-handed toothbrush’ will provide multiple options.
The best advice we as dental professionals can give is to first understand what type of brush head suits your oral landscape. Some people would be much better served with a smaller round brush head for example than the standard rectangle formation that may be restrictive in certain areas, especially the tight bends of the wisdom teeth. Whatever your preference, always research carefully and choose only brands with an established name and background, coupled with the best reviews and ratings.
When it comes to your oral health and the required dexterity to keep it at an optimal level, there should be no inherent drawbacks to being left-handed as long as your brush can reach all areas of your teeth and gums.
Brushing with your ‘non-dominant’ hand
Whether you brush your teeth with your right or left hand, there have been some interesting findings for those making a conscious switch to the ‘other’ hand for toothbrushing.
This area of neural research has shown some stark neurological benefits.
The brain is effectively a muscle that is constantly rewiring itself to be able to best navigate its daily tasks.
In technical terms, when we forcefully use our ‘other’ hand for tasks such as tooth brushing or handling cutlery while eating, we are training opposite neural hemispheres, which will then begin to build new neural pathways while also strengthening the existing ones.
How this translates to us in real applications, is that using your non-dominant hand can lead to greater creativity, as well as enhanced focus and an improved memory.
A further potential benefit is how it may affect the calming centres of the brain and therefore body. Many who have tried this change have experienced a measurable and lasting reduction in stress and depression symptoms. This is most likely due to the mindful nature of focusing on one clear thing at a time, rather than having all the background mental noise that often accompanies habitual tasks requiring no focus.
And the list of positive changes seemingly do not end there, improvements in two-handed dexterity have also been noted as the non-dominant hand becomes more familiar with new positions and requirements.
So, the possible benefits are certainly evident, but this change is not always easy to achieve. At first, using an ‘alien’ hand to grip your toothbrush is likely to feel very strange and you may feel a strong desire to change back, but if you choose to persevere this will become easier over a matter of days and then you may see some stark benefits beginning to surface.
A word of caution
The most important factor with any tooth brushing is to make absolutely sure that all areas of the mouth are being reached, so whether using your dominant or non-dominant hand, or even a bit of both, that is the essential primary goal.
If your current toothbrush cannot get to all the required angles, or into all the narrow cracks around the wisdom teeth we suggest a prompt appraisal of your toothbrush head size and/or shape and an equally prompt change.
Our company purpose
Here at Life Dental and Wellbeing, we aren't just here for the usual ‘tooth and gums’ dentistry, your overall mental and physical wellbeing is the cornerstone of our unique business that continues to grow and flourish as time goes by.
