Brushing your teeth at least twice a day is the foundation of a good oral hygiene routine and healthy teeth (though you should do it after every meal).
Yet many people wonder when it’s the best time to brush their teeth in the morning. Somehow, it makes a bit more sense to do it after eating breakfast to remove all the food particles that could linger in the mouth.
Even so, most dentists recommend doing it before you enjoy your morning meal.
Keep reading to learn the definitive answer.
There are two main reasons why brushing your teeth before breakfast is the better approach:
The mouth is full of unwanted bacteria that multiply while you sleep because you’re naturally producing less saliva to flush them away. It’s also why people wake up with morning breath!
Brushing before breakfast helps remove some of these bacteria, which prevents them from trying to feed on your morning meal, which can increase your risk for cavities and gum disease. The bacteria release acids that break down the tooth enamel when they eat the food left after your meals. Over time, this acid makes a permanent hole in the tooth, known as a cavity.
When you brush your teeth, you’re coating them in fluoride, which helps protect them against the high acidity found in certain breakfast foods, such as fruit or orange juice.
This is also why you should never rinse your mouth with water right after brushing your teeth, since it can remove the fluoride coating.
Moreover, if you brush your teeth after breakfast, you may be moving highly acidic food particles across the surface of your teeth. Over time, these foods can weaken the natural enamel.
Sometimes, patients cannot brush their teeth before their morning meal, whether it’s due to their schedule or any other reason.
You can safely brush your teeth after breakfast as long as you wait at least 30 minutes between these two routines. After your meal, you can rinse the mouth with tap water to remove some of the foods that could linger in the mouth until you give your smile a good scrub.
Unfortunately, even if you time it perfectly and use the best products and most advanced electric toothbrush on the market, at-home oral care is not enough to guarantee healthy teeth.
There are some areas of the mouth you simply cannot reach on your own. But a dentist can, through professional dental cleaning.
By using special tools and products, Dr. Brookes can thoroughly clean your teeth and greatly reduce your risk of damage, from cavities to gum disease.
Schedule a dental cleaning at Acacia Dental Care, LLC, online or call us at (414) 212-8291.
