To maintain good oral hygiene and to minimize the necessity of dental interventions, you need to have the right tools. Using the right products and technique will prevent diseases such as gingivitis and infections.
Let’s get right into it
Table of Dental Health Essentials
Below, I have an easy-to-read table with the products that I recommend. You do NOT need to buy all of them as some of them overlap (for instance a normal floss vs water flosser), but I do urge you to have at least one of these tools in each category to maintain good dental health.
Keep reading further below for some of my specific recommendations within each category
Colgate Total SF | ![]() | MedicalGeeker Rating 9.9/10 ![]() 637 user ratings |
MedicalGeeker Rating 9.7/10 ![]() 58 user ratings | ||
Listerine Freshburst Antiseptic Mouthwash | ![]() | MedicalGeeker Rating 9.0/10 ![]() 1,581 user ratings |
Fairywill Electric Toothbrush | ![]() | MedicalGeeker Rating 9.8/10 ![]() 7,907 user ratings |
Dental Expert Soft Charcoal Toothbrush | ![]() | MedicalGeeker Rating 8.7/10 ![]() 4,750 user ratings |
Waterpik Water Flosser | ![]() | MedicalGeeker Rating 9.7/10 ![]() 23,248 user ratings |
Solimo Mint Dental Flossers | ![]() | MedicalGeeker Rating 9.3/10 ![]() 547 user ratings |
Toothpaste
Pay attention because in my mind this is one of the most important things. I highly recommend buying a toothpaste with stannous fluoride. Stannous fluoride is fluoride that is found in a particular form that is much more effective than typical fluoride (sodium fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate). It is very effective at fighting plaque.
I recommend buying the one listed on this page (table above or I’ve also put it below). You can check out my page on stannous fluoride toothpastes for details on why, but in brief, Colgate has patented ingredients that make it work well without detrimental side effects. No other company uses the same ingredient (zinc phosphate) because it is still under patent.
If you have very sensitive teeth, then please see the bottom of this post to see the toothpastes that I recommend.
Mouthwash
Generally, any mouthwash will do – Listerine, ACT, or a mouthwash with stannous fluoride.
Overall, I recommend a mouthwash with stannous fluoride in it because the science makes the most sense. As I said above, it is very effective at fighting plaque. If I were forced to choose my runner-up pick it would be Listerine.
Listerine utilizes essential oils to destroy bacteria in your mouth. While ACT has fluoride in it (a very small percentage – 0.05%), I don’t think this fluoride is necessary since you will get the fluoride component from your toothpaste, particularly, if you are performing your oral hygiene routine in the correct order.

Toothbrush
Make sure that you are brushing with the right technique.
I highly recommend buying an electric toothbrush. Using an electric toothbrush typically improves brushing technique and also helps to reduce plaque better than a manual toothbrush. You can go for an expensive electric toothbrush if you want a lot of bells and whistles, but I think any electric toothbrush will serve its purpose.
If you end up buying a manual toothbrush, again, any toothbrush will do, but MAKE SURE to get a toothbrush with SOFT bristles. And like I said, consider an electric toothbrush because the differences in cleaning can be quite drastic.
If you do buy an electric toothbrush, one thing I hated about my toothbrush is how it did not sit in most toothbrush holders very well. I ended up leaving it on my sink’s countertop, but this resulted in stagnant water getting all over the place. The solution I found was to use the toothbrush holder below that is slim, but big enough to hold an electric toothbrush. It also is made of a diatomite and clay which has water-absorbing so that your electric toothbrush isn’t sitting in nasty water all day long.
Floss
Flossing is an important (albeit annoying) part of good oral hygiene that too many people skip.
I prefer a water flosser just because of ease of use. I hate flossing so much and reducing the possible excuses I would make to myself was important. With a water flosser, I find myself much more consistent with flossing.