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
Do you wash your hand after and not before?
Do you use dirty plate to eat and wash it afterwards?
Do you wash your hand after and not before?
I wash my hands before I need them to be clean and after they get dirty. I want them to be clean for as long as is practical.
Do you use dirty plate to eat and wash it afterwards?
I use clean plates which are clean because I washed them after they got dirty. Do you wash your plates immediately before using them?
I brush my teeth before bed and they remain relatively clean until I eat my breakfast.
@Scrooge McDuck:
I rinse my plates or at least wipe them before I use it, dust accumulates when it's sitting there in the cupboard.My teeth doesn't feel clean when I wake up in the morning. I dunno the science, but I do know it makes my breath a bit stinky, therefore I brush them before I eat.
I rinse my plates or at least wipe them before I use it, dust accumulates when it's sitting there in the cupboard.
So do I if they're dusty. So you wash them after using them and put them away clean, right?
My teeth doesn't feel clean when I wake up in the morning. I dunno the science, but I do know it makes my breath a bit stinky, therefore I brush them before I eat.
I don't have that problem at all. Could you clean them better before you go to bed?
@Scrooge McDuck:
Yup, I clean them after and put away clean.Brushed at night, still have morning breath, so yea, I still brush them in the morning before eating. Something still accumulates overnight even though you clean them befofe bed..
@Scrooge McDuck:
Just like you dont need to shower in the morning before you go to work?Nope, I clean them after, but not necessarily brush them. Depends on what I eat. If it's just breakfast, which mostly just cereal and milk for me, I just rinse with mouthwash and maybe floss.
Just like you dont need to shower in the morning before you go to work?
I don't need to if I showered the night before and didn't get sticky overnight, but that's none of your business!!
Often I will shower before bed AND before heading out. The same principle applies; clean something soon after it gets dirty, not immediately before. I wouldn't have a shower before mowing the lawn or servicing a car, I'd wait until afterwards.
So we've established that we both clean our teeth after breakfast. The difference is that your teeth aren't clean in the morning for whatever reason. Even in your case, I would still brush soon afterwards and not immediately before. Is eating with dirty teeth so much worse than having them in your mouth for hours?
So there is no need to brush if you feel that your teeth are clean?
Actually, initially I just wanted to point out that your analogy of gym, muddy cars and pooping doesn't really equate well for eating. Sure you should clean something after they get dirty, but you don't necessarily need to be clean before you engange in those activities.
However, with eating, some people DO want things to be clean before they eat.@Scrooge McDuck: that could be a case of dry mouth, or an infection. Super-thorough cleaning at night can actually exacerbate the problem, especially if rinsing with alcohol-based mouthwashes.
Honestly, I only brush my teeth twice a day. Right after I wake up and after I've had dinner. So essentially, I don't clean my teeth after any other meal apart from dinner.
Your comparisons aren't very valid. I don't know what you eat for breakfast, but my teeth doesn't get visibly coated in food.
Your comparisons aren't very valid.
"very valid"? I don't think there are degrees of validity in this context.
I adhere to the principle of: Clean something soon after it gets dirty, not immediately before.
Your habits are contradictory:
Basically because I'm rigid and assumed that brushing your teeth before breakfast is as natural as wiping your ass after you poop.
That's the comparison I made.
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.
My habits have no principle. My habits was something I developed as a child because I was brought up that way. Hence, my point of it suggesting that it is a cultural difference.
Why would I change my habits when there is no proof that brushing after breakfast is more beneficial to me? I personally think my current routine is just fine the way it is. It's optimised already because of my familiarity with this routine. In fact changing it would be counter productive to me as I would have to consciously alter a 20+ years habit to adhere to a new routine for no obvious benefit.
The link by cDNA just below just said that brushing in the morning should be done before breakfast.
@Encipher: cultural difference is correct
dairy would be the key to the reasons of before vs after behavior
Dairy vs fruit vs other breakfastsGonna be honest and say, that didn't even cross my mind about breakfast lol. I was more thinking along the lines of "when I was young, my parents told me to brush my teeth before eating breakfast, our teachers taught us to brush our teeth before breakfast, and our local nursery rhymes sang about brushing teeth before breakfast, and that became my norm". So became my basis of cultural difference.
Incorrect assumption.
The mouth is plenty dirty after 8 hrs of bacterial growth overnight. That is how brushing your teeth first thing in the morning is justified… IMHO.
So you must be another who brushes before dinner(?)
Newsflash: Our bodies are 'plenty dirty' with more than just bacteria every second of our lives.
So you must be another who brushes before dinner(?)
Nope. A person would typically eat and drink through the day, so the innards are fairly regularly "rinsed"; as opposed to the relatively static environment while we're sleeping.
Newsflash: Our bodies are 'plenty dirty' with more than just bacteria every second of our lives.
I'd say that is pretty irrelevant. Why brush at all if the all "flora and fauna" in/on our bodies is the same? :)
See post below from cDNA that covers this off better that I could.
Teeth brushing has nothing to do with bacteria.
the brush is to remove food particles to prevent them binding to the teeth.The Fluoride is the increase the pH to a level to maintain the natural hardening of the tooth.
Anything anti bacterial is very bad for your teeth because it creates dry acidic environment that rots the enamel
Okay. This seems like a valid source: https://www.quora.com/Should-you-brush-your-teeth-before-or-…
Brushing in the morning should be done before breakfast.
I covered this topic a while back in my blog post titled Better Breakfast Choices Mean Fewer Cavities & Stronger Teeth, but the choices you make in the morning have major impact on your oral hygiene. Make them good ones.
Why is this:
Bacteria begin to metabolize sugars into acids almost instantly. Bacterial biofilms in your mouth have been maturing overnight in a reduced saliva environment gearing up for sugars in the morning. Clearing bacteria out before the introduction of food makes far more sense than brushing after they have already soaked up sugars to produce acids that cause cavities. How much damage the bacteria cause is dependent on the quality of bacteria in your mouth (some people hit the lottery and have great oral bacteria).
Salivary calcium levels are lowest in the morning putting your teeth are at a much higher risk of acidic damage from bacteria and dietary acids in the morning than at any other time. The process of enamel demineralization occurs much more rapidly than remineralization, so it is extremely important to take steps to limit the extent of demineralization throughout the day so your teeth are able to recover. If you brush before breakfast, it kickstarts salivary flow that has been reduced overnight and introduces in fluoride to the mix which will help buffer your teeth against acids.
If you consume, acidic foods or drinks they can soften your enamel and make you teeth more vulnerable to toothbrush abrasion if you brush immediately afterwards. Toothbrush abrasion and erosion are becoming increasingly common so we need to pay greater mind. Scrubbing on your teeth right after your enamel has been softened up by something like OJ will lead to toothbrush abrasion and increased sensitivity of your teeth.Additional pointers:
If you are concerned about how the toothpaste will impact how your breakfast tastes, you can do dry brushing without toothpaste or use an SLS-free toothpaste since the SLS, which is added to help your toothpaste suds up, alters taste sensationA lot of people ask if you brush before do you also have to brush again after eating. If you brushed before breakfast, all you really need to do afterwards is clear residual food (especially sugars) from your mouth. You can do this by rinsing afterwards (ideally with an alkaline mouthwash to re-balance oral pH) and then doing a quick cleaning to remove food stuck between an on teeth.
Yeah, but if i have onions & garlic for breakfast, then how do you think society will react to me?
We are judging you right now for such an "eccentric" choice of food for breakfast.
Sugerfree extra
Garlic, esp. uncooked garlic cannot be removed by merely bruching your teeth and rinsing your mouth. It takes about 8 hours for the garlic to pass through your digestive system and sometimes longer, the odours persist for much of that time, though you would likely be unaware of it.
Tldr please
Brush before
Like your comment. Affirm my current practice - brush before and after whenever possible. Or at least brush before then rinse.
Why not just use a fluoride mouthwash before breakfast to protect the teeth, and then brush after breakfast to remove debris.
Seems more efficient than brushing, rinsing, re-cleaning.
+1 from me for contributing good detail re something we can all benefit from.
So many unfounded opinions, and so few facts in this thread.
So here's my 2c:
Oral/teeth hygiene is one thing to work on. Another is esophageal (throat) hygiene. With all those bacteria breeding away in the reduced saliva environment, the throat is coated with them in the morning too. Hence the saying 'Parrot breath' in the morning- it's from more than the teeth! And is why a lot of people huck away in the bathroom to cough up crap (esp if you live in a high pollution city- the phlegm build-up is unavoidable)
An old man told me what his Gt. granddad told his grandad that told his dad and his dad him. It went a bit like this:
"We all lived >90- and dad always told me to coat my throat using a cap-full of whiskey before bed and again before breakfast"
Perhaps the alcohol can kill off the bacteria. He explained the benefits to me as:
- a general improvement in health,
- resistance to sickness and (in particular)
- preventing cancers of the digestive tract.Yet this contradicts what my dentist says alcohol-based mouthwash is bad as it causes gums to retract from the base of the teeth. But the old man tells me the whiskey is for the throat, not just the as a mouthwash.
But I prefer alcoholic mouthwash. To heed the dentist's advice I rinse doubly hard with water and just gargle with mouthwash- ie don't use it on my teeth (or try not to). But given that a lot of people spend their lives drinking alcoholic spirits (not just a short gargle once or twice a day), I suspect alcohol wrecking gums might be a bit overblown…
Who has time for breakfast.
Funny
Breakfast is defined in many dictionaries as "the first meal of the day". It comes from the term 'breaking your fast'.
Therefore, if you don't eat breakfast you must not be eating anything at all during day or night.Coffee for me.
Yes please.
I'll have another thanks.
After.
I also floss and use those interdental brushes.For those that brush before, do you brush before you eat dinner too?
For those that brush before, do you brush before you eat dinner too?
No, you brush before you go to bed.
Stop being silly unless it was a serious question.I think it's the low saliva environment when sleeping that contributes greatly to the need to brush early in the morning…
But if you want to be super careful, a brush on both sides of your sleep time (before & after) plus a strict removal of food stuff from your mouth after every meal would be best.
I usually brush before to get rid of the foul taste in my mouth after sleep, rinse with warm water gets rid of the minty taste for me.
After I eat, I floss and rinse with mouthwash, taste of breakfast gone :)
tl:dr
brush => breakfast => floss & mouthwash
I usually brush before to get rid of the fowl taste in my mouth after sleep,
So you eat chicken for dinner every night?
Or
Mcduck…:'(
During
After 35 years never been to dentist and have no problems with my teeth. I belive is the luck of the draw.
I belive is the luck of the draw.
Hygiene, diet and genetics trump "luck".
Overweight, loves KFC teeth perfect.
KFC Trump's health.
Trump Trumps Trump
brush then eat…
followed by a rinse
Brush before breakfast.
I'm usually in a hurry in the morning so I eat breakfast on the go.I brush fortnightly, but I ALWAYS do it before the breakfast on that given day because, you know, if I brush after the breakfast then the saliva ruins the enamel. Better safe than sorry….
-brushing fortnightly
-caring about destroying enamel from that one time per fortnight you brush- Being a member of Ozbargain
- Failing to see the obvious humor in peoples' comments
oh shit yeah my bad, i forgot i was on this hugbox…
I brush before and after. I don't like to eat breakfast with morning breath and ingesting all that bacteria, and I also don't like leaving my house without minty breath.
Don't like to ingest all of that bacteria, which was just having an 8~hour orgy on your tongue, teeth and palate:
Clearly you don't want that mixing with the trillions of 'pure' bacteria that live in your stomach, intestine, colon… :-\
Wake up. Eat. Go to work. On the way, realize forgot to brush.
Is it weird to brush at work after lunch? I find it a bit weird and sometimes the disabled toilet is occupied.
What's more important to you; conforming to social norms or maintaining your health?
The first person to roll something on a log was probably "weird".
Always brush teeth after an OJ or a BJ.
breakfast juice.
Lol I thought you were saying something else for a sec. If you were going to brush before a BJ you would get a higher chance of contracting an STD :p
Ha ha
Always brush teeth after an OJ or a BJ.
breakfast juice.
Are you a salesman?
I might try that one: "Good morning darling, would you like some breakfast juice?" ^^
Try this "Good Morning Darling, give me a BJ and I wil do the vacuum your carpet."
I dunno, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I vacuum the carpet for free. ^^
@bobbified: what job? thought we were talking about juice.
bad if floss stuck in the mouth, esp deep in the throat.
do most people floss daily?
No the acid has soften the enamel, wait half an hour before brushing
What acid? I eat cereal/milk/toast - I would think that would be very common.
response was to Oj and bj
61 vs 61 atm! Don't think I've seen such a close poll before.
I think OP should have put a "What is brushing?" choice too.
A life-long habit; I just can't eat food in the morning without brushing my teeth first. Maybe it's a subconscious thing but I feel like all that nasty, built-up bacteria in the mouth is what I am eating. Nah! I brush my teeth, scrub my tongue, floss and wash my mouth with Colgate alcohol-free mouthwash, and then I eat breakfast. If my breakfast happens to leave some strong smell, from coffee or onions/garlic etc, in my mouth then I would do a second, quick brush and mouthwash.
I think this is a silly thing to debate. There have been scientific studies done on this kind of stuff by health professionals.
And yet half the people here haven't read them. The other half just got lucky.
I think most know, we just still to do before as its habit,
How silly.
Next poll: Do you wash wash your hands before or after going to the toilet?- Before
- After
- Who has time to go to the toilet?
Actually, I do both:
Don't want to get the germs from the door handle on my member.
And washing after is a courtesy to everyone else.
my member.
AKA McD*ck?
It's not that silly. It's more like preparing food, not going to the toilet.
Your hand (actually teeth) are already dirty from the sleep.
When you wash your hand (actually brush teeth), you are protecting them for up to 12 hours (yes, no hand wash does this).What kind of soap are you using that protects your hands for 12 hours from any normal surfaces you may touch during that time ?!?
You probably didn't read what I said but rather skimmed it.
In brackets: Yes, no hand wash does thisToothpaste does.
The only reason I brush before breakfast is because I have breakfast at work (which may become early lunch depending on availability of breakfast food). I MUST brush before leaving the house. If not I would brush after. Your poll does not cater for this scenario…
So in what order do you do it on a day off?
I do the same. Brush teeth at home and have brekky at work. On weekends, breakfast doesn't happen until lunchtime.
… take a supply of tea room biscuits home with you for Sat/Sun breakfast
Usually before, unless I will eat onion or anything with strong odor for breakfast, then after
So for me: depends (no option there)
First world problem, send it to the UN for a determination
Brush before, to get rid of the plaque buildup, germs and bacteria that accumulates overnight (that causes those morning breath!). And rinse with mouthwash / floss after. Unless I eat onions and such for breakfast, then I'll brush again.
For me it's like washing my spoon and hand before eating. It just feels right to have those things clean before I eat.
Brush before bed, to help stop the plaque buildup, germs and bacteria that accumulates overnight
FTFY
Do you take a shower before going to the gym and not after?
Or wash your car before driving on a muddy road?
Or wipe your butt before pooping?
o_0