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You aren't supposed to rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth. You're supposed to spit excess, but leave the toothpaste on to absorb.
by KVFinn 4y ago
You aren't supposed to rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth. You're supposed to spit excess, but leave the toothpaste on to absorb.
- PartiallyTyped 4y agoMay I swallow? I find that my breath and tonsils feel fresher.
- lm28469 4y agoIt's definitely not recommended, at least for fluoride toothpaste, it usually is written on the box and the tube
- PartiallyTyped 4y agoOh. Thanks for letting me know.
- arbuge 4y agoWouldn't that result in the ingestion of a large quantity of toothpaste over the course of a lifetime? I can't imagine that would be good for you.
- prettyStandard 4y agoIt's just diatoms. We all eat all sorts of things and it's fine for the most part. As long as you aren't eating actual poison you are fine.
- loa_in_ 4y agoFluoride is toxic. > We all eat all sorts of things and it's fine That's like saying you can lose some IQ every so often because you'll live so what
- mjburgess 4y agoSafe: 10 mg/day Toothpaste: 4mg / teaspoon So you'd need to swallow several whole teaspoons to pass std. safety levels cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride
- loa_in_ 4y agoSafe, means it won't have any detrimental effects, or it won't be debilitating, or it won't kill me?
- hdjjhhvvhga 4y agoThat's a good question. Having not seen reliable research on that point, my approach is as follows: I use a small amount of toothpaste (say, 1/4th of what you see in ads or less) and I spit excess. In this way in the worst scenario I digest at least one order of magnitude less fluoride than the threshold of the safe amount.
- loa_in_ 4y agoNow I am fairly certain I probably use more than that even, but with the complexity of biological systems it might be as well saying that being shot with 10 bullets is somehow better than with 1000 bullets. I just point that out, because I am acutely aware how good people are at convincing themselves with statistics of anything, really.
- prettyStandard 4y agolol. You're comparing toothpaste to getting shot 10 times? Yes that is better than getting shot 1000 times, not better than getting shot only once, in case you are wondering. Complexity != Fragile
- beernutz 4y agoYou are actually being hit a lot more by cosmic rays that are not deflected by our atmosphere. We survive this fine. This is probably a more acurate simile than the bullet one, based on the amounts involved.
- ChickenNugger 4y ago"The dose makes the poison." Even ionizing radiation (sunlight) in small doses over a whole lifetime isn't really harmful. Especially given that it's how we naturally make vitamin D.
- throw1234651234 4y agoOr rinse and use mouthwash with fluoride and leave that. Brush from top to bottom, not side to side. "Scrape" your tooth when flossing. Seems like way too many never learn these basics.
- lm28469 4y ago> "Scrape" your tooth when flossing. Seems like way too many never learn these basics. Nothing proves flossing is beneficial actually
- BizarreByte 4y agoA nothing proves it isn’t, so you might as well spend the extra minute or two and do it.
- lm28469 4y agoWell: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/dental-floss-harmful-chemicals/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/dental-fl... Also, nothing doesn't prove eating twelve apples per day cures cancer so why not try it ?
- BizarreByte 4y agoBecause I would probably feel sick if I ate that many apples per day. Flossing is low effort, why not do it?
- Majestic121 4y agoThat's quite a weird answer. All else being equal, it's obviously better not to spend an extra minute or two doing something useless. If you think it is not actually equal, and that scraping is indeed better, well say so and qualify your statement. You can even say that it's recommended by dentists, it's an authority argument but it surely is better than nothing.
- 4y ago
- christkv 4y agoWell now I learned something new and very useful. Applying to kids tonight.
- dartharva 4y agoThat just feels nasty though
- gedy 4y agoI'm glad to be wrong on that one
- jaqalopes 4y agoThis is one where I KNOW I do it wrong. The dentist prescribed me a hardcore sensitivity toothpaste for an issue, but emphasized that it will only work if I don't rinse after brushing. But... I just can't not rinse after 30 years of muscle memory. I generally remember this right as I'm rinsing. The sensitivity toothpaste has not worked, of course.
- datastoat 4y agoI’m in the same boat as you — sensitive teeth, but can’t not rinse. What works for me is to treat the toothpaste as a “post-rinse medicated rub”: squeeze out a bit more, and rub it over the most sensitive teeth.
- D-Coder 4y agoMaybe mark the cup with something that will remind you. Clip a paperclip over the edge? Store it upside down? (If you're using a cup.) This could help interrupt the habit.
- stevenhuang 4y agoWhat I find helps is to rinse my tongue (run the bristles over my tongue under water, but just the tongue). Then at least most of the toothpaste residue sticks to my mouth and teeth but not the taste.
- karmakurtisaani 4y agoIf you remember it as you're rinsing, brush your teeth lightly again to spread the tooth paste on the teeth. Once you've had yo do it again a few times, you'll pick up the habit of not rinsing.
- rpdillon 4y agoAhh, mine is an interesting counterpoint to this! I had canker sores for my entire life, well into my late 20s. I tried everything: changing toothpastes (more on this in a second), changing brushes, using mouthwash, being told my mouth was "dirty" and I need to brush more, etc. Turns out (at least for me) the sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) used as a foaming agent in (almost) every single toothpaste causes canker sores. I found "canker sore toothpaste" that lacks the SLS, for $7 a tube. I used it for couple of years and it worked! If you read up on SLS, this is not super-surprising. It's a known skin irritant, and is known to cause more irritation when left on the skin for more than a couple of minutes. Canker sores are an autoimmune issue, so my theory is the irritation triggers an immune response, leading to the sore. And then I discovered if I rinse thoroughly (twice) after brushing, even with normal toothpaste, I just don't get canker sores anymore! Not sure if it's universal, but canker sores suck so much, I hope this helps someone suffering like I was.
- ChadNYC 4y agoInteresting. I suffered from canker sores into my early 20's. Finally talked to a Dr, who sent me to a nutritionist. The problem for me was orange juice. I've never been sure what exactly it is in OJ that caused the problem. But I do know that if I drink a glass of processed orange juice today, I'll wake up with a bad canker sore in 2-3 days. If I drink a glass of fresh orange juice for a few days in a row, I'll get the canker sores.
- jkubicek 4y agoI've also suffered from canker sores. Vitamin B (B-12 is the important one, I think) is a wonder cure. At the first sign of mouth soreness I start taking daily doses of Vitamin B and it cures the sores right up.
- nativespecies 4y agoFor me and my 2x monthly canker sores, it turned out I was severely iron deficient and had anemia. Since taking supplements, I haven't had a canker sore in 7 months.
- 4y ago