Of the many pieces of dental equipment that money can buy, by far the most common and most important of these is the toothbrush.

Invented by an imprisoned entrepreneur following a riot, the toothbrush has evolved in leaps and bounds over the past two centuries, developing a wide range of different bristle types, shapes, sizes and additional features.

However, with so many toothbrushes available, which features are best for your teeth, and which might be counterproductive?

There are a lot of options, and some brushes are better for specific people, but there is a general consensus when it comes to the best toothbrush for the vast majority of people.

The first and most important consideration is bristles, and for most people, either a soft or medium-bristled brush is best for removing plaque from the teeth.

Harder bristles can be counterproductive, as whilst they can remove plaque from the teeth effectively, they can also risk overbrushing and brushing too hard, which can scrape away enamel and weaken teeth as much as they protect.

For most teeth, a medium-bristled brush is best, but for sensitive teeth, soft bristles or dedicated toothbrushes designed with sensitive teeth in mind are ideal.

Typically, the best brush heads are small ones, as they can reach everywhere in the mouth. Larger toothbrushes will work, but there is a risk that they will miss vital parts of the mouth and mean you miss or struggle to reach everywhere in your mouth.

There are a lot of different handles, but the best type is the one that lets you reach everywhere in your mouth easily, whether that is flexible, non-slip, rippled, rounded or anything in between.

Finally, whilst manual toothbrushes are effective if you feel comfortable with your brushing technique, electric toothbrushes more readily guarantee effective brushing, particularly if you are using smaller brush heads or if it hurts your wrist or hand to brush your teeth.