It is advised to brush your teeth at least twice a day, but when? Just before bed is a gimme because you’re about to lie mostly still for 6+ hours. Best to not leave food particles to fester.
What’s the best time for an earlier brushing? After breakfast? After lunch? After work/school?
Plus, what’s up with TV and movies having breakfast scenes where they get up and head right out the door? Did they already brush and now they’re going to leave food to fester all day? Eww.
As far as I know, getting cavities is a lot about genetics. I floss and brush after dinner and breakfast and don’t overthink it and I’ve been fine for many decades now.
Getting cavities is a lot about the prevelance of sugar and highly-refined carbs. Some people are more susceptible than others due to differences in saliva, but the typical western diet is horrible for your teeth.
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I actually find it more enjoyable to have breakfast after my mouth is refreshed. I wouldn’t enjoy eating with the taste of old mouth juice all over my tongue
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With the exception of orange juice, any food I eat replaces the minty flavour with its own. I guess I just need that reset to “minty fresh” before eating (I’ve been conditioned by Big Toothpaste to associate minty with clean)
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That’s why I brush my teeth first, then shower, then have breakfast. The time I need to shower and prepare breakfast is enough for my mouth to return to normal.
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After breakfast than floss+brush before bed. Before breakfast doesn’t make sense to me because you’re brushing twice when you haven’t eaten anything.
Yeah that’s my thought.
Might seem counterintuitive at first pass, but brushing Before breakfast IS much better.
There’s a couple of reasons for this. One thing being that you want to wash out the bacteria that have multiplied overnight - these are the ones that give you the morning stinkbreath, and that sticky coating you feel on your teeth.
Additionally, when you eat you expose your teeth to acids that weaken and softens your enamel for a while. Brushing the weakened enamel weakens the enamel over time. Brushing before on the other hand helps protect your teeth from said acids, reducing this weakening effect.
That said, brushing after you’ve eaten is still better than not brushing at all.
That makes sense. I can’t say I’ll change, purely because I don’t want to eat breakfast with the taste of toothpaste in my mouth, but it’s good to know.
I’ve always heard that but also been told to wait for some time after eating before brushing to not hurt your enamel? Not sure how true that is
For breakfast if you drink milk and eat nothing acidic (like fruits) that would weaken the enamel, brushing after the meal is the best.
Also brushing your teeth does slightly damage your teeth, which salvia will repair. I don’t want sugar in my slightly damaged teeth, nor do I want sugar on them for the rest of the day, until I brush in the evening. I like to extend the duration of brushed teeth to the maximum. Meaning over night clean and after breakfast, til often evening when I eat once more. With midday being all clean without extra brushing.
But milk is (slightly) acidic, isn’t that a product to avoid as well before brushing?
This would be ideal, but some people work jobs where it’s not feasible.
Yup, that’s what my dentist recommends. If you do that, just make sure you have a toothbrush and toothpaste which doesn’t hurt your teeth :)
Dentists have a strong pro-brushing bias though.
But then you walk around with breakfast breath all day?
After breakfast and/if going out and then before bed.
Is breakfast breath worse than lunch breath or dinner breath?
I don’t know. But it seems very wasteful to brush teeth and then eat because then you have a lot of food particles and bacteria still.
Better to eat breakfast and then brush because then you have a fresh breath and no unnecessary gunk and bacteria in your mouth the whole day.
As someone else said: food softens the enamel and makes your teeth more vulnerable so brushing right after breakfast may cause way more damage. I always brush my teeth before breakfast and almost never have any problems with my teeth. I know that my friends who frequently need treatment for their teeth brush them after breakfast.
But that’s of course anecdotal evidence that doesn’t say much, and I’m no dentist, so I may be wrong.
Most people will say its generally after you eat but I personally believe it should be before and after you sleep (including naps). I noticed that after naps my mouth feels very weird and things taste different but brushing my teeth stops that. Cavities mainly form while you sleep not while you are awake so going about your normal day with dirty teeth isn’t going to harm you even though its a bit gross.
I brush in the morning, and rinse or floss after I eat anything. I brush when I get home from work, after supper, and before I go to bed.
I used to just brush in the morning and at night, and have a partial to show for it
I used to just brush in the morning and at night, and have a partial to show for it
that’s crazy, do you have some condition like acid reflux or a particular issue with your saliva?
twice a day is like THE golden standard everyone learns and is told by dentists.My dentist says flossing more often than once a week is detrimental.
maybe he said more than once a day? Mine said 1-2 times a day.
Flossing? Wtf. Brushing, yes, but flossing is much harsher.
Idk how u floss :D
Evening: floss, fluoride mouthwash, 2 minute electric brush routine.
Morning: fluoride mouthwash and quick manual brush.
So, I try and be thorough in the evening and then try a quick pass in the morning to knock off any film and get some fluoride in there.
My dentist recommends not using mouth wash. Ever.
Any particular reason why? I could understand it not being particularly effective but not sure it could be seen as harmful.
Before bed 99% of the time. If I’m leaving the house then I’ll brush before I do.
After my morning tea and before I go to bed
Before bed and before breakfast. Bacteria grow in your mouth during your sleep, so it’s best to keep them low when you start sleeping, and kill them again before you swallow them with breakfast.
I think ideally you’d brush your teeth after every meal, but that would require having a toothbrush with you at all times and I’m too lazy for that. Brushing twice a day is good enough; once around 10-15 minutes after eating breakfast/ the first meal of the day and right before bed.
I brush before eating. I cannot stand the taste of morning breath
I think the problem with brushing too many times is that the toothpaste itself is also somewhat abresive. So, brushing too often will result in you destroying your teeth. Especially if using “whitening” pastes.
