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When do you brush your teeth?

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.

cyborganism ,

I brush my teeth first thing in the morning when I wake up, before breakfast, to ensure I have the perfect coffee breath for the whole day after breakfast.

SilentStorms ,

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.

BananaPeal OP ,
@BananaPeal@sh.itjust.works avatar

Yeah that’s my thought.

FrozenCorgi ,

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.

SilentStorms ,

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.

thelsim ,
@thelsim@sh.itjust.works avatar

I ermm… only brush in the morning, after I had my shower. I know I should brush at least twice and I really wish I had the motivation to do so, but somehow I just find myself in bed without brushing.
But, to make up for it a little, I brush my teeth very meticulously for a minimum of 6 to 8 minutes. I follow intermittent fasting, so my next meal won’t be for another couple of hours.
My dentist is always full of praise during my half yearly checkup so I must be doing something right?

Seasm0ke ,

My dentist told me it actually takes ~24 hr for plaque to harden up into calculus so not to be too hard on myself if I only manage once a day. I think twice a day is probably best especially if spots are missed, but I rarely manage the morning cause I drink coffee all day and brush after my nightly shower.

howrar ,

I remember reading that only once a day is necessary if you brush properly, but most people don’t brush properly, so the recommendation is twice a day to make up for that.

thelsim ,
@thelsim@sh.itjust.works avatar

Thanks for letting me know, it makes me feel a little less guilty.
I still should make a change somehow, but I’ll figure it out eventually :)

1bluepixel ,
@1bluepixel@lemmy.world avatar

Better to brush after getting up to remove any bacteria and plaque buildup. And then right before bed, floss+brush.

mojo ,

After my morning coffee to try and reduce coffee staining teeth

Also 100% recommend water flossers, they’re a game changer cuz I was really bad about flossing normally

_haha_oh_wow_ ,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

I brush pretty much as soon as I get up and right before I go to bed.

shapesandstuff ,

I remember reading you shouldn’t do it immediately after breakfast due to acids etc increasing the risk of damaging you teeth with the fairly rough brush.
Something like 40 minutes after breakfast would be ideal. I tend to do it maybe 10-20 minutes after bc i have to get ready 🤷

Unforeseen ,

Or you could brush your teeth at work and get paid at the same time 😁

shapesandstuff ,

I like the way you think!

MystikIncarnate ,

Boss gets a dollar while I get a dime, that’s why I brush on company time.

kryllic ,
@kryllic@programming.dev avatar

Brush before bed to keep your teeth, brush after breakfast to keep your friends

MrFunnyMoustache ,

I brush after breakfast in the morning, and before bed. I know you’re supposed to do it before breakfast, but I can’t enjoy food with the disgusting taste of toothpaste in my mouth.

mitchell ,

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

MrFunnyMoustache ,

But doesn’t the toothpaste taste overwrites every flavour for you?

mitchell ,

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)

MrFunnyMoustache ,

I see… My problem is that I loathe anything with mint, so to me it taints anything and I can’t enjoy anything until the flavour vanishes completely.

Jesus_666 ,

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.

MrFunnyMoustache ,

To me, I need at least 30 minutes after brushing my teeth for my sense of taste to return to normal, otherwise everything tastes like toothpaste.

unknowing8343 ,

There are plenty of studies suggesting that people are actually brushing too much. Kinda like with shampoo… we strip our surfaces from healthy bacteria and oils and it creates a vicious cycle.

On the other side, many foods we eat today are not healthy for our mouth environment, so I still believe there has to be a certain degree of brushing, of course. So, simply put… you should adjust to your use case. Learn when you feel your mouth needs some brushing or not, and move on.

ArcticDagger ,

Could you link some of those studies? I’d be interested to read more about that

Stefh ,
@Stefh@programming.dev avatar

Every time you finish a meal

waffle ,

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 :)

Imgonnatrythis ,

Dentists have a strong pro-brushing bias though.

BananaPeal OP ,
@BananaPeal@sh.itjust.works avatar

This would be ideal, but some people work jobs where it’s not feasible.

Ubettawerk ,

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

Stefh ,
@Stefh@programming.dev avatar

That’s true, but it’s enough to just rinse your mouth with water before brushing your teeth to eliminate any acidity from the food, or just wait at least 30 minutes before brushing your teeth.

Send_me_nude_girls , (edited )

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.

tweeks ,

But milk is (slightly) acidic, isn’t that a product to avoid as well before brushing?

NorthWestWind ,
@NorthWestWind@lemmy.world avatar

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.

MTK ,

Build up of bacteria at night means that if you eat in the morning before brushing there will be more bacteria to break down the food into acid which will break down your teeth.

Ideal is to brush first but also brush after each meal*

*as long as the acidity in your mouth is 5.5pH or less your teeth are being broken down by the acid (which means that brushing would be scrubing them with acid and making it worse) in which case you should wait until your spit (which is a buffer solution) returns your pH to normal. Since most foods are acidic the recommendation is to wait 30 mnutes after eating and then brush. Or you can eat suger free gum right after a meal, this will trick your brain to produce more spit which will return the normal pH faster.

My personal system is like so:

Wake up

Use dental jet floss (water floss)

Brush teeth

After any foods eaten chew gum for 10-30 minutes

Floss

Dental jet (if at home)

If I’m at home and have 30 minutes to wait between mouthwash and brushing then I use mouthwash, wait 30 min then brush, if not then just brushing and if I’m not at home then just mouthwash.

Repeat for as many things as I eat that day.

Before bed:

Floss

Dental jet

Mouthwash

Wait 30 min

Brush

Sowatee ,

Before bed 99% of the time. If I’m leaving the house then I’ll brush before I do.

SHamblingSHapes ,
@SHamblingSHapes@lemmy.one avatar

Following the advice of my dentist, in the morning after finishing my coffee and in the evening before bed.

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