Does aggressive tooth brushing or having one's teeth cleaned from a
dentist harms the tooth enamle (coating).

Hi sheheryar1960,

"Vigorous brushing can make the gums pull away from the teeth and can
scratch your tooth enamel."

http://health.yahoo.com/topic/oralcare/overview/article/healthwise/uh1654

"Everyone brushes their teeth to clean them, but brushing right after
drinking soda might do more harm than good. Soda's extreme acidity may
soften and erode tooth enamel, and brushing right after drinking could
worsen the damage.

"According to new research done by dentists at Germany's Goettingen
University, waiting 30 to 60 minutes after drinking soda to brush
helps to protect tooth enamel. Waiting allows it to recover from
erosion through the buffering agents and minerals in saliva."


http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/10/10-21-03tdc/10-21-03dscihealth-04.asp

And as far as the dental cleaning goes:
"It is not likely that the enamel of the teeth could be scratched in
the process of tooth cleaning. Enamel is one of the hardest natural
substances known...second only to diamond. It would take a diamond
cutting instrument or one made of carbide steel with extremely hard
pressure to scratch the surface of a tooth."

http://experts.about.com/q/Dentistry-966/Enamel-damage-during-cleaning.htm

Basically, it seems that food and drinks can wear down the enamel over
time, but a professional dental cleaning does not seem to have an
effect.

Search terms:
enamel harm tooth brushing

If you need any clarification, let me know and I'd be happy to help!

--keystroke-ga

I can attest to the fact that hard brushing with a hand toothbrush
does not strain the enamel but does erode the gums.  I brushed too
heavily, using a hand brush for a protracted period of time, and
exposed the top of my tooth's root.  When I asked the dentist what to
do, they simply said brush lightly.

I guess that the hardness of the brush is also a factor.

I use a soft one.

I also had the problem of hard brushing.  The dentist tells me that my
gums have receeded slightly in my back teeth...  it's not a problem,
but could be a large problem if I continued brushing hard.
The dentist suggested brushing with only my thumb and 2 fingers (to
lessen the pressure I could apply) and said that hard brushing does
almost nothing to clean teeth better than light brushing.  She also
suggested only using soft brushes, changing the toothbrush more often
(tooth brushes tend to get harder as they get older an dmore used),
and not using whitening tooth paste (which is apparently harder on
gums).

Almost all dentists would recommend using the "soft brush", but the
ADA seem to have their 'Seal' on all three grades of toothbrushes
(soft, medium, hard) which indicates approval.

And I thought the ADA is made up of the same dentists - makes you
wonder why the confusion.