你真的会刷牙吗？刷牙最该刷的其实不是牙齿

“刷牙”这个词有点用词不当。赫希菲尔德说：“刷牙该刷的是牙龈，而不是牙齿本身。在刷牙龈时牙齿也会被刷到。”

Brushing your teeth effectively lowers your chances of getting a host of chronic diseases, as well as keeping your teeth and gums healthy. But the majority of us are doing it wrong.

有效刷牙可以大大降低患上多种慢性疾病的风险，同时也能保持牙齿和牙龈的健康。但我们大多数人刷牙的方式都是错误的。

In Sweden, one study found as few as one in 10 people practice the best brushing technique. The British health insurer Bupa found that almost half of respondents did not know how to brush their teeth properly in a survey of 2,000 people in the UK.

瑞典的一项研究发现，只有十分之一的人掌握了最佳的刷牙技巧。英国健康保险公司Bupa在一项涵盖了2000名英国人的调查中发现，近半数受访者不知道如何正确刷牙。

So what exactly are most of us getting wrong, and how can we change our routine to make sure we brush our teeth effectively? Here's how to properly brush your teeth, according to experts.

那么我们大多数人到底错在哪里？我们应该如何改变日常习惯以确保我们有效地刷牙呢？来看看专家建议的正确刷牙方法。

"Lots of patients understand that what they need to do is remove food remnants," says Josefine Hirschfeld, associate professor and specialist in restorative dentistry at the University of Birmingham in the UK. "That is only partially true. It's much more important to remove bacteria from the teeth."