To polish or not to polish?

In class yesterday we went over polishing and today in clinic we practiced with a prophy angle and a toothbrush. I wish somone would have told me how to brush when I was little. Its not like my teeth are horrible but it would have been nice to know. I definitely want my patients to know this early. I never knew til yesterday that polishing with prophy paste actually removes enamel! Yet we still do it all the time. It does remove stain and plaque though so I am trying to decide how I am going to go about this when I am in private practice. The prophy cup seemed to get more plaque off than by toothbrush polishing. We tried both today. It wasn't a drastic difference though so I am thinking of maybe trying to just polish with toothpaste instead and see if I get the same effect without removing tooth structure. I am glad I got to learn about this instead of just doing something because everyone else has for such a long time.