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On a similar dental hygiene note, I was told I should brush before having breakfast, coffee etc. It always stood to reason to me that it makes more sense to jus
by Frost1x 4y ago
On a similar dental hygiene note, I was told I should brush before having breakfast, coffee etc. It always stood to reason to me that it makes more sense to just eat my first meal and drink, then brush, to keep a cleaner state of my teeth for longer but supposedly according to a few dentists I spoke with, the protection you get from the first brush is more significant than removing those first food particles.
Chances are you already have a lot bacteria in your mouth and once you eat your breakfast (which for many is sugary) they immediately eat and consume this and produce acid. So, brush before breakfast, supposedly.
- oarfish 4y agoI think it's both the bacteria thing – getting rid of them before they can start metablizing your food into stuff to harm your enamel – and the idea that directly following food intake, your mouth pH level will be out of homeostasis and enamel may be easier to erode at "non-native" pHs and one shouldn't brush directly after. I'm not sure where I got that from though.
- Frost1x 4y agoYup, both removing them first and then layering a bit of protection (fluoride).
- hawk_ 4y agoThis can go wrong in either direction. If you brush your teeth and have milk shortly after, the fluoride binds to the calcium in milk and goes to your belly instead of staying with your teeth protecting them. On the other hand if you have orange juice or similar (acidic) and then brush your teeth, say bye to your tooth enamel.
- spoiler 4y agoWhy is there no winning in this situation?! I have never realised something as simple as brushing teeth can be so nuanced lol
- coldpie 4y agoIMO teeth are the worst part of the human body. Hard to take care of, will inevitably fail, not replaceable, massively painful for even minor injuries. Evolution really screwed the pooch on teeth.
- tete 4y agoSpines seem to be similar in that regard. Huge "fuckup" (bound to fail badly) in many ways, but freed hands. Feels like engineering: It's all trade-offs.
- hawk_ 4y agoOur diet is nothing like what our teeth evolved for. For example for most people, cutting down the amount of sugars (down to levels similar to our prehistoric ancestors) they consume can go a long way in protecting dental health (and general health for that matter)
- HPsquared 4y agoTeeth are the canary in the coal mine. "The canary is the worst part of the coal mine, it can hardly handle anything!"
- bee_rider 4y agoSomewhere evolution is saying “well I gave you four perfectly decent extra molars that you insist on ripping out, if you kept those your teeth would be mostly fine for however long your are supposed to live. Mid 50’s?”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- moffkalast 4y agoSharks really got the good teeth genes.
- tete 4y ago
- badpun 4y ago> On the other hand if you have orange juice or similar (acidic) and then brush your teeth, say bye to your tooth enamel. How long would you recommend to wait? Or perhaps a good rinsing of teeth before brushing would be enough?
- hawk_ 4y agoAcid loosens the enamel, so careful with anything like good rinsing or brushing right after consuming acidic items. Just drink some water (optional light rinse) and wait around 30 minutes to brush. * Disclaimer: I am not a dentist, you should find a good one and talk to them for real advice.
- CabSauce 4y agoDon't brush before or after breakfast. Got it! Thanks!
- mensetmanusman 4y agoIf you follow all health advice, you realize the proper response is to just die: it’s too complicated.
- FlyingSnake 4y ago> to just die But before brushing or after brushing??!!
- Firmwarrior 4y agoI've only been brushing my teeth before bed for like 6 years at this point, and flossing once a week or so. I don't know if it's the fluoride alcohol mouth wash I use or just dumb luck, but I haven't gotten any cavities So I think that given this rigorous scientific data, you can safely avoid brushing for the most part
- jonaustin 4y agofwiw, I have pretty bad teeth (~10K for crowns etc a few years ago). And I switched to only brushing with an electric toothbrush before bed, and don't really floss and think I've only had one small cavity since then and the hygienist said my teeth looked quite good in general. Worth noting that I have a good diet and rarely eat sugar beyond yogurt.
- CabSauce 4y agoIt's complicated. There's definitely a genetic component to having hard teeth.
- danenania 4y agoA lot of it is diet too. Not eating or drinking sugary things gives you much more room for error. Of course you still need to brush and floss, but in my experience sugar + rigorous cleaning can still leave you with cavities whereas no sugar + lax cleaning you're probably fine. No sugar + rigorous cleaning and you might never need a dentist again. It took me way too long to understand this.
- tonnydourado 4y agoI always drink coffee, which is acidic (I think) with milk, for breakfast, so I guess I should just give up on teeth?
- tromp 4y agoI try to brush before eating and drinking, but on the rare occasions I end up brushing afterwards, I wait the better part of an hour so that the acids are well enough diluted to cause trouble.
- satvikpendem 4y agoDid you know that after brushing with toothpaste you're supposed to just...let the foam hang around in your mouth without rinsing it out for 30 minutes? I didn't until recently, and now that I do, I'm still not gonna walk around with toothpaste foam in my mouth.
- 8ytecoder 4y agoThere's a particular prescription strength toothpaste I use when I get sensitive teeth. I keep it specifically for post-dinner brushing and it's easier to do this at that time.
- valarauko 4y agoHow much foam do you end up with? I usually don't rinse out the toothpaste after, but I don't end up with a foaming mouth after. I use about a pea size amount (as recommended on the packaging) and it's not super sudsy when I'm finished. Wipe my face and done.
- satvikpendem 4y agoNot too much but it just feels disgusting to me to keep all of the food bits still suspended in the foam in my mouth.
- valarauko 4y agoI'm confused - what food bits? Do you have detectable food bits left over after brushing or is it an impression that there must be food still left over? At least for me, I rinse out my mouth before I brush, so I don't expect to have detectable gunk left over. I also use a tongue scraper after, so I'm usually feeling pretty clean when I'm done.
- satvikpendem 4y agoWell both, stuff between the teeth that the brush doesn't get (I guess that's why you'd floss after brushing, but also with foam in your mouth?), and also just food microparticles that would go away when rinsing after brushing generally.
- rojobuffalo 4y agoHow about mouthwash first thing in the morning to nuke the bacteria without coating your mouth in fluoride?
- LouisSayers 4y agoDentists I've been to have said not to use mouthwash - it kills good bacteria too.
- pcthrowaway 4y agoIt's easy to get toothpaste without fluoride
- fxtentacle 4y agobut what's the point? toothpaste is mostly a fluoride delivery mechanism.
- azinman2 4y agoYou want the fluoride to remineralize your enamel.
- wingworks 4y agoYep. Thats why they recommended to wait about 30mins after brushing before you eat. Also at least 30 mins after brushing before eating. Ideally don't graze eat throughout the day. Highly recommend checking out the TeethTalk YouTube, she's a Dental Hygienist and covers allot of dental topics, and it's free. idk where your from, but dentists here are crazy expensive. https://www.youtube.com/@TeethTalk https://www.youtube.com/@TeethTalk
- jaimehrubiks 4y agoIf I brush before eating the food tastes bad
- HPsquared 4y agoSame, I naturally avoid anything acidic after brushing, things like orange juice just taste horrible after brushing.
- vlabakje90 4y agoThis is due to the foaming agents used in most toothpastes. The biggest culprit is sodium lauryl (ether) sulphate (SLES/ SLS). These foaming agents are surfactants and they bind to certain taste receptors in your mouth, thus altering your taste perception. You can avoid this entirely by switching your toothpaste to something that uses no foaming agents or those of the non-surfactant type.
- ornornor 4y agoSome people are also allergic to them. I was getting canker sores in my mouth for years without understand why. Then my cousin discovered he’s allergic to SLS. I quit toothpaste with SLS and I never get them anymore. It’s rare but you never know who else struggles with it and doesn’t know.
- jaimehrubiks 4y agoDo you know any US toothpaste without sulphates that is not a scam like 99% of the brands, that typically charge 300% more for ADs like (whitening bla bla..)
- algorias 4y agoIIRC the reason for this is that antibodies are actually in your saliva, which moves around your mouth much less while you're sleeping. Thus, bacteria have a more favorable environment at night.
- muzani 4y agoThat would explain morning breath.
- ornornor 4y agoI found that rinsing my mouth after brushing and before going to bed with baking soda dissolved in water makes a notable difference there. And don’t use Listerine etc, their alcohol content is way too high and leads to cancer over time apparently.
- Georgelemental 4y agoSeems to me like one should just not eat a sugary breakfast?
- OJFord 4y agoAcidity is more the issue aiui, I don't really eat breakfast typically but my dentist's example was coffee (to which I don't add sugar) - drink water after coffee, and don't brush for half an hour after.
- jarek83 4y agoFunny, all my dentists always urged me to do morning brush after breakfast. It seemed to correlate to "brush after each meal" thing.
- OJFord 4y agoMine says half an hour before or after, which I like because it makes sense. He also suggests after lunch, and of course in the evening, which obviously comes after breakfast - so it's kind of annoying (you know, to the kind of person spending time on HN) to leave it at 'brush before breakfast not after' or vice versa...
- exitb 4y agoSince apparently you can get two conflicting “educated” opinions, chances are it doesn’t matter anyway.
- moffkalast 4y agoYeah if you feel like making your breakfast taste like garbage as the toothpaste blocks sweetness receptors.
- thfuran 4y agoYou can get toothpaste without sodium lauryl sulfate.
- moffkalast 4y agoTIL, that would be interesting to try then. I hope they're not overly expensive?
- mixmastamyk 4y agoTrader Joe's peppermint anticavity toothpaste. Was a bit odd at first as it has baking soda in it, but after a tube or two I think regular toothpaste is really the odd tasting one now. Cheapish.
- thfuran 4y agoI think it's often like 2-3x the price of cheaper brands, but that doesn't really add up to much ongoing cost.
- born1989 4y agoYes. Best talk on teeth hygiene and anatomy (in that order) I’ve heard - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/patricia-corby-d-d-s-importance-of-oral-health-best/id1400828889?i=1000526246884 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/patricia-corby-d-d-s-i...
- high_byte 4y agobrush before and have a good wash after as well
- jjice 4y agoI couldn't imagine consuming anything before brushing my teeth, but this is coming from a retainer wearer so I think that might have something to do with it.
- bobbylarrybobby 4y agoI've heard that brushing right after eating is really bad for your teeth because just after you eat, the bacteria in your mouth start producing acid that, for lack of a better word, loosens the surface enamel in your teeth, and brushing in that state discards that enamel instead of letting it resettle after the acid washes away. The solubility of enamel is insanely low so the effect should be minor at most, but still.
- oneoff786 4y agoThe bacteria is one thing, but acidic foods are another. Brushing after citrus will destroy your teeth over time. Not sure about coffee.