Paralyzed by fear of under/over brushing

[ToothShy]

I have a few dental fear problems but the most pressing one today is this:

I want to do a good job brushing my teeth, I want to brush twice a day. The problem is I'm so worried about brushing too hard or too long and making my teeth/gums worse than they already are. I will know I have to brush my teeth and will pace around for an hour plus, trying to find excuses to put off brushing my teeth. When I finally do brush them, I try to go softly, but then I obsess about not actually cleaning my teeth, wondering if I did a good job or not.

The other problem I have is I've heard a good tooth brushing should take 2-3 minutes. Mine takes closer to ten, and I worry I'm overbrushing. I just have no idea how long each tooth needs.

I just bought an electric toothbrush, hoping that would help. It even has a sensor to let you know if you're applying too much pressure, but it's hard to read and I hear it's unreliable. I go softly with it, barely applying pressure, but then worry I'm not doing a good job.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a way to know for sure what the right amount or pressure is? If I brush for 5-10 minutes is that too long?

 

[Angeldove]

The way I see it, I really just wanted to brush off the tartar on my teeth and allow my teeth to absorb the fluoride.

You should spend about 3 seconds brushing 1 side of each tooth - so 9 seconds per tooth.

I don't rinse out my tooth paste with water- I allow it to sit on my teeth to allow the fluoride to be absorbed, then I use a mouth wash to rinse out of my mouth.

I will be having a check up in June and I'm hoping my dentist will be happier with my mouth since I really have been trying hard to keep up with a strict routine of brushing and flossing.