So, this started happening to me and my toothbrush a few months ago and a little over a month ago it looked like this:
I was losing a lot of hand strength so my toothbrush was wearing out prematurely. I feared that I was doing damage to my gums. I posted the above picture with the question asking one of my MS support groups what to do with my loss of hand strength. I was thinking of getting an electric toothbrush.
Another member of the group suggested that I get therapy putty. I ordered some that day on Amazon and it arrived two days later:
I immediately began working with the extra, extra soft putty. I refer to it as, “Fuddy putty” (because that Sean used to call silly putty when he was very young).
After working with it for some time, I leveled up to extra soft:
After some more time, I was able to move to soft:
I still have been using my worn out toothbrush because I haven’t gotten to my dentist to get another one. I recently leveled up to medium:
It’s definitely tougher to squeeze with either one of my hands but it is beginning to get easier. Today, my mom brought me an unexpected gift. She was able to find it at the grocery store today:
It’s exactly like the toothbrush I get from my dentist! I can get rid of my worn out toothbrush because my hands strength has gotten better because I am constantly squeezing the therapy putty all day long so I am excited to see how it works out with my toothbrush tonight. Wish me luck! If it still doesn’t work, I will go back to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned at the end of October or the beginning of November so I can get a new toothbrush then.