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About this tool
Two-minute brushing timer split into quadrants or sextants, with modified Bass technique cues and fluoride guidance by age.
The standard recommendation is two minutes of brushing, twice a day, with fluoride toothpaste — and the reason a timer helps is that most people stop at around 45 seconds while believing they brushed for two minutes. This timer divides the 120 seconds evenly across the mouth (30 seconds per quadrant, or 20 per sextant), cues the modified Bass technique zone by zone, and shows the right amount and fluoride strength of toothpaste for the age of the person brushing.
Open Toothbrushing Timer on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Time is split across zones, so the side you always rush gets the same seconds as the side you do first.
Each zone carries a modified Bass cue — 45° to the gum line, short strokes, light pressure.
Amount and ppm follow the published bands for under-3s, 3 to 6 year olds and everyone older.
Two minutes, twice a day, with fluoride toothpaste. Splitting that into four 30-second quadrants — upper right, upper left, lower left, lower right — is the usual way to make sure the whole mouth gets equal time, because unaided brushing tends to stop well short of two minutes and to favour one side.
A smear no bigger than a grain of rice for children under three, using a paste with at least 1000 ppm fluoride, and a pea-sized amount from age three upwards with 1350–1500 ppm. An adult should brush for or supervise a child until around age seven, and children should be discouraged from swallowing the paste.
No — spit out the excess paste and leave it. Rinsing with water or mouthwash immediately after brushing washes the concentrated fluoride off the enamel before it can work. If you want to use a fluoride mouthwash, use it at a different time of day.
Every three to four months, or sooner if the bristles splay or bend, because worn bristles clean far less effectively. Replace it after an illness too. A brush with visibly flattened bristles is past its useful life regardless of the date.