Long story short, my colleague and I are in a fierce debate over brushing your teeth before or after breakfast?
I wanted to know what the OzBargain community does.
Do You Brush Your Teeth before or after Breakfast?
wesleysniper on 07/06/2016 - 19:42
Last edited 07/06/2016 - 19:42
Last edited 07/06/2016 - 19:42
Poll Options
- 400After
- 336Before
- 44Who has time for breakfast?
Comments
totally agree, but the bigger issue as I see it is:
my colleague and I are in a fierce debate over brushing your teeth
I think you need to find more worthy topics of fierce debate.
And possibly a new colleague
Haha so true!
They were giving me so much grief that I brushed before breakfast but I found it so odd that people brush after.It depends on what you eat for breakfast. Eating anything citrus after brushing teeth in cringeworthy.
Brushing ruins the taste of food for a while. If your morning routine takes long enough I suppose it would be okay to brush first, do everything else, then eat breakfast. I'd still prefer to leave the house with freshly brushed teeth though.
I don't eat breakfast #Intermittentfastingftw.
I don't have teeth #BillFTW.
Duck's don't have teeth so your statement adds up!
thEn
not thAn
Have a dentist in the family… brush before because if you brush after, all that saliva softens the enamel slightly
I still won't do it because I don't want to go to work with food in my mouth and in between teeth with my breath smelling like weetbix.
You skip lunch at work? Or brush after lunch too?
At least a burrito breath smells better than a weetbix one…. Right?
After lunch, everyone smells funky.
Not gonna lie, I have a toothbrush in my personal bathroom at work.
@cDNA: Having a personal bathroom at work is confirmation you've made it in life. I envy your status.
Brush again, or chew a gum
Just because it is old doesn't mean it's wrong! The earth is still round even though that was established a long time ago. I think you'll find the bicarbonate in saliva neutralises the acids, the calcium and phosphates from saliva in conjunction with fluoride from toothpaste and water remineralise and toughen the enamel.
I know, but we are talking about biology here not mathematics/physics. As someone who has spent hundreds of hours on pubmed, medline, compendex etc., don't post old articles and treat them as fact.
I just posted that below.
@cDNA:I'm confused as to what you are trying to get across. Are you claiming the saliva softens enamel?
A lot of the research that established the cause of tooth decay was done many years ago and still stands today. Well designed research and experiments do not have an expiry date. It can be disproven by better research, but not merely be some arbitrary date.
My knowledge of mathematics is limited however I'm sure there are a lot of research physicists out there who would disagree that all physics knowledge is set in stone!
@cDNA: >Fine, quote these abstracts, but it wouldn't hurt to find something more recent.
So basically your just arguing for no reason here with a theme of old studies are wrong then?
@Diji1:
Did I say they were wrong? You guys don't even have access to the paper. How can you even judge the worth of the study?No, I am arguing because you people think that quoting 25 year old studies is considered a good idea.
I said 'fine,' because there's no changing your minds. YOu think you're all experts.The fact that my comment received 3 downvotes shows me those people know nothing about science or pubmed.
@cDNA: I think what you said hold some merit, but you chose a bad thread to raise your point. All people want to know here is whether saliva soften or hardens enamel, not a discussion on validity of dated papers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remineralisation_of_teeth#Role…
All the results I could find on softening enamel involved Coca-Cola and rehardening with milk or saliva.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Saliva+soften+enamelDo you brush before you eat dinner too?
Lol no,Rt is better
Agree. Saliva hardens things for sure. Just asked Richard and his wife.
Have a dentist in the family… brush before because if you brush after, all that saliva softens the enamel slightly
My dentist told me to brush a little while after every meal. :/
my wife is a dentist and says brushing before is better as it reduces the biofilm built up over night, that's if I heard correctly which I usually don't….it is also dependent on what you eat for breakfast. I.e you shouldn't brush your teeth after drinking orange juice etc
Yes. Before is better as there are some things to get rid of after the night… But if you have sugar in your breakky, then you should brush after (as well). Before & after is best, but "no one" wants to do that….
Interesting, my dentist has always said saliva is great for enamel and bacteria, it's nature's own toothpaste!
It is not that the enamel softens from the saliva but the acid produced from eating. By brushing 10-15 minutes after eating you can undergo a process known as remineralisation which reverts the damage done by the acid & strengthen your teeth (fluoride). Saliva is actually very good for your teeth and also helps with this remineralisation process.
saliva doesnt soften enamel it actually hardens it. the acid/carbs from breakfast soften the enamel. it takes the saliva over 30min to buffer the acidic environment.
theoretically before is better as you have gone all night with low saliva flow thus having dehydrated teeth which is then hit with acid. so by brushing before breakfast you remineralise them.i still brush after lol
it's either saliva or stomach acids that make their way to your teeth while sleeping. Take your pick.
+1 for this! Know dentists, they all say avoid brushing your teeth right after acidic meals!
during
winner
Toothpaste for breakfast.
Someone please Kickstart this. I want toothpaste with the nutritional content of breakfast cereal.
I want toothpaste with the nutritional content of breakfast cereal.
Froot Loops or Coco Pops?
That's not exactly a tall order…
I prefer the Cupcake Toothpaste. I also remember champagne, whiskey and daquiri toothpastes from many years ago, but they never took off, and mint toothpaste is still the only option in most supermarkets.
I don't see how you are going to eat right after brushing your teeth. It is simply disgusting.
All dentists do it
Proof?
c
We can't show their faces.
Why is it disgusting?
I guess the toothpaste taste is still in your mouth… But I suppose for people that don't regularly brush before, it's a big deal. However, I'm sure anyone would get used to it after a while…
Brushing my teeth is my breakfast
This is tough
Model?
True ozbargainer.
And like most people that don't eat breakfast, but brush their teeth, their breath still stinks
Are you stalking me?
?que
There's an admission =p
Brush before eating.
Brushing the night before is even more important.
I brush meticulously every time, cleaning every surface and checking thoroughly with my tongue.
I don't have the morning issues that others report. So I only feel the need to brush after breakfast; usually at least 20 minutes after, once my saliva and tongue have cleaned most of the food out of my mouth. I don't consume juices, coffee or anything acidic for breakfast.
I've never had a cavity and, since adulthood, only visit the denti$t every few years for a check-up. Being generally healthy, hygienic, avoiding sugary and acidic crap, and drinking a lot of milk have probably helped.
Do you use a power toothbrush?
No, I use a children's toothbrush. The smaller head is more precise.
With a manual toothbrush you can brush with gentle circles and dislodge particles up and away from the gums without excessive wear or scrubbing.
What a riveting thread…
feel I should brush my eyes
Doesn't get anymore riveting
I think it's a cultural thing. Where I'm from, everyone brushes their teeth before breakfast. It's only after I came here that I realised that there are people who brush their teeth after breakfast, which I find really strange.
Why is it strange that people do not want their morning breakfast tasting like fluoride and mint?
Do you also brush with bamboo toothpaste?
It's strange because it's something I'm not familiar with. The end. Basically because I'm rigid and assumed that brushing your teeth before breakfast is as natural as wiping your ass after you poop.
And no, I use ordinary fluoride toothpaste that taste like mint. But I like the taste of toothpaste if that counts?
brushing your teeth before breakfast is as natural as wiping your ass after you poop.
So cleaning a body part before getting it dirty is 'as natural as' cleaning another body part after getting it dirty?
So you also brush after dinner?
Edit: Oops, meant before dinner.
You guys are all missing my point here. The point that I was trying to make was the cultural difference between where I'm from and here. Where I'm from, the natural order of things was to brush your teeth before breakfast. Basically, this was something ingrained into me since I was a child. My parents taught me this, my grandparents taught them that. Ignoring all the cleanliness yadda yadda argument.
I actually believe it's not cultural but behavioural and contextual.
Waking up at 5am brushing teeth, having breakfast at 9am sounds quite reasonable behavior.
Waking up at 5am brushing teeth having breakfast at 515am is just incorrect behavior.
Tooth decay is caused by dehydration and or lack of saliva stabilising the pH in the mouth
Typically a Western breakfast staples milk and dairy. They have a base pH similar to toothpaste.
Basically both options are suitable on some circumstances.
Dairy for breakfast? Brushing minimum 30 minutes before is OK.Acidity breakfast? Brushing is a must after breakfast to return to a higher pH.
Haha honestly, I didn't consider the food factor whatsoever. I just said "cultural difference" because my Malaysian friends and I find it strange that some people here brush their teeth after breakfast, and we were surprised. No deeper meaning to it really.
I think you have your analogy backwards: 'cleaning teeth after eating' is analogous to 'wiping after a bowel movement', or 'washing your hands before using the toilet' — the fact is there are people who actually do this, and while it is done in private no-one is aware, but if it ever comes to light it repulses anyone who discovers the dark secret.
Do you wipe before or after you poop?
@kryzstoff: there is a guy at my work that washes his hands before and after going to the bathroom.
I find that a little excessive, unless your hands are actually dirty.
It might not always be cultural. I'm Chinese, my mate is Chinese. I brush before, he brushes after.
Well, maybe it's just where I'm from then? When I was in kindergarten, there was literally a song (in Malay) about teaching kids this stuff.
The song goes (in that order) "Get up in the morning, brush your teeth, wash your face, drink milk, have breakfast, go to school…", which is why I'm saying it's a cultural thing. Like it was the natural order to do those steps for us.
Are Malaysian people known to have good teeth?
I don't think we're noted for having either good or bad teeth. But yes, we have teeth.
How about Australians? Are Australian's noted for that?
Could you enlighten me on the relevance of that statement to the previous argument?
Cultural differences transcends just race. Nationality-wise, I'm Malaysian. Race-wise, I'm Chinese. But my cultural values are significantly different from Chinese people from China or Chinese people born and bred in Australia or anywhere else in the world. Similarly, my values are different from the Malay and Indian people of Malaysia. I understand my values don't apply to all Chinese people, or all Malaysians so to speak.
How is optimisation even relevant to this. I doubt my parent's parent's parent's parent's thought about optimisation when brushing their teeth. It was something probably passed down from generations, as I mention, we have a song about it. If every cultural habit had an optimised behaviour to it, every culture would essentially be the same.
Let me give you another example about how un-optimised my culture is.
Every Chinese New Year, the elder generations give red packets to unmarried individuals. In my family, the eldest unmarried child gets the red packet first, followed by the second eldest etc. We actually line-up in order of generation/birth order when collecting red packets. Zero optimisation. My grandma could just turn to the nearest unmarried person and say "Here, have your red packet, who's the next closest person beside me who hasn't gotten one yet?" but we don't. Yes, there's a big difference because we're trying to preserve our tradition here, and brushing teeth before/after breakfast isn't exactly "tradition". It's just something we do, because that's how we've always known how it's done, and we don't see a reason to change it unless it's obviously detrimental to us.
@Encipher: Hey man, I understand were you're coming from. Was also brought up doing the same and I can see why it can seem strange to others but I don't know why some people are so rude about it :/
It's really just one guy trying to impose his thoughts on to everyone else really. I'm not saying that brushing after breakfast is bad either. It's just different to what I'm familiar with, and hence why it's strange to me.
No it's not and has never been please refer to my top comment
I think it's a cultural thing. Where I'm from, everyone brushes their teeth before breakfast. It's only after I came here that I realised that there are people who brush their teeth after breakfast, which I find really strange.
When did optimisation come into the picture? No where have I mentioned that brushing before breakfast is more optimised than brushing after, or vice versa. My main point was cultural difference. Please explain to me how having a different culture with different practices and habits has any relevance to optimisation.
I have never said brushing before/after is more optimal than the other, and I have no interest in participating in your narrow view that brushing after breakfast is the only way to go, because personally I don't care what everyone else is doing with their teeth. I was never arguing about brushing before being the best way either. And honestly, all I posted was my personal opinion that my fellow Malaysian friends and I brush before breakfast because that was how we're brought up.
So if you want to "win" an internet argument with a random stranger regarding when is the most optimum to brush your teeth, go right for it (although I see people have posted links that points to brushing before being better). Because who cares? What I HAVE been saying though, let me repeat that since you love ignoring the whole point that I have been highlighting from the very beginning is, in my culture, we brush before breakfast, and it's different to the culture here. Regardless of whether it's good/bad. Capisci?
I don't eat breakfast #Intermittentfastingftw.
But if I did, brushing your teeth than eating breakfast right after seems silly.