Motivate your patients

The innovative formula of Colgate Total Proof toothpaste contains a colour changing technology to reveal a blue colour during toothbrushing. This technology turns the white paste into a blue foam to motivate patients and encourage them to brush for longer. The colour changing effect of the technology is optimal after two minutes of toothbrushing and this time period aligns with advice given in the ‘Delivering better oral health’ guidance document published by Public Health England.

The importance of establishing a good oral hygiene routine was underlined by a study looking at the effect of brushing time on plaque removal, with manual and electric toothbrushes, over five different brushing times (30, 60, 120, 180 and 360 seconds). This study revealed an optimum plaque removing efficiency at two minutes, with both manual and electric toothbrushes.

In addition, six further studies have clearly demonstrated the duration of toothbrushing is consistently correlated with the amount of plaque removed. One study demonstrated a plaque score reduction of 27 per cent after toothbrushing for one minute increasing to 41 per cent after toothbrushing for two minutes.