That moment at 2am when I realized I was holding my toothbrush wrong for 30 years

I was brushing my teeth at 2am after a late shift, and my gums started bleeding again. I looked in the mirror and noticed I was using a sawing motion instead of gentle circles, like I've always been told to do but never actually did. Anyone else have a hygiene habit they only just caught themselves doing wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

susansingh13d ago

Oh man, this hit me SO hard because I just had a similar moment last week. I was almost finished flossing when I realized I'd been doing this weird yanking motion instead of actually curving the floss around each tooth. My gums were like "excuse me, what's wrong with you?" My dentist probably has a whole secret folder of my hygienic fails at this point. I'm pretty sure I've been washing my hands wrong too - like who even knows the correct way to do the basic stuff? The 2am toothbrush realization is honestly the most relatable thing I've seen all month. At least we're figuring it out eventually, I guess?

ivan_murphy8013d agoOG Member

Goodness gracious, @susansingh, you just described my entire life with dental hygiene! I had the exact same moment about two months ago when I was brushing my teeth and suddenly realized I'd been scrubbing them like I was trying to remove paint from a fence. My gums were sore for weeks and I always wondered why the dentist kept telling me to be gentler. It's amazing how we just go through life doing these things completely wrong without ever questioning if there's a better way. I swear I've been washing my hands wrong too, probably missing all the germy spots while focusing on the easy parts. At least we're in good company with our 2am realizations about basic human maintenance.