Set the timer to 48 seconds

How to use the online timer

Dentists reckon two minutes is the gold standard, but for a quick top-up between meals, 48 seconds on the clock is plenty to knock the worst off your teeth. Start it going before you pick up the brush, keep moving section to section, and stop worrying about counting Mississippis in your head. Simple, silent, and done before the jingle from a novelty toothbrush timer would even finish.

Press Start and away it goes, counting down on its own without needing you to babysit it every few seconds. The only real rule is keeping this browser tab open, since the countdown pauses along with the page if you close it or shut the browser down entirely. Right at zero, a sound plays to let you know time's up, clear enough to hear from the next room over.

There's something to be said for a timer that doesn't try to sell you a premium version or bury the start button behind ads you have to swipe past. This one lives in a browser tab, plain and straightforward, doing exactly what it says and nothing else. You can leave the tab minimised while you get on with things, and it'll keep counting until it's time to let you know. Set a timer for 48 seconds, set the timer to 48 seconds, start a 48 seconds timer — it is the same countdown either way.