Poll: Brush teeth before or after eating breakfast?

[LarenzoAOG]

I don't eat breakfest, so I guess neither, but afterwards seems the logical course of action.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I always brush after when I am at home... but when I am at work, as the dining room is on the way to work I can't be bothered to go to breakfast, then return to my room to brush teeth, and then go again, so I brush after my shower! I tend to have breakfast at work aswell, and don't really want to take my toothbrush in!

But that is only for convenience... if I had the choice I would brush my teeth after! I like to start my actual day with a fresh feeling mouth!

 

[Mad World]

I do it before. However, because my breakfast is usually a mass gainer shake, I don't think that it really makes much of a difference.

 

[4RM3D]

No one has mentioned this, it seems. Make of it what you will.

Tooth Brushing

Bad breath is a great way to lose new friends. Nobody wants to talk to or sit next to someone whose breath is outlawed by the terms of the Geneva Conventions. So thank goodness we learned to brush our teeth so much.

Well, actually, our obsessive-compulsive tooth-brushing practices lead to deteriorating oral health, including increased numbers of cavities and eventual tooth loss. Traditional wisdom, as dictated to us from a young age by school-visiting dentists with happy, anthropomorphic teeth printed on their shirts, is that we should brush twice a day, after meals. That makes sense, because you're getting rid of all those hamburger particles wedged between your teeth before they can start rotting and convert your breath into a chemical weapon.

But surprise -- you're wrong. British dentists are now recommending that people, especially small people between the ages of five and 10, not brush their teeth after every meal. The reason is that the acidity in food and beverages causes tooth enamel to soften, and brushing right after eating an acidic meal strips enamel from the teeth, leaving them vulnerable to cavities. Leaving a little food behind actually doesn't cause as much damage as your toothbrush does as it scrubs the natural protective layer off the teeth. Up yours, dentists.

Studies show that flossing is much more important than brushing. Dental floss actually removes the bacteria that clump together between your teeth, without scrubbing and stripping layers off them.

But before you run to your dentist and smugly assert that Cracked told you that brushing is bad for you, brushing twice a day is generally still believed to be the best practice. But you should do it away from mealtimes to give your teeth time to recover from acid wear -- ideally, right before you eat or drink anything. And although you might instinctively prefer a hard toothbrush to really grind off those asshole bacteria, studies suggest you should use a soft brush and focus on your gums more than your actual teeth. So it's really more of a tooth massage.

Link: http://www.cracked.com/article_19121_7-basic-things-you-wont-believe-youre-all-doing-wrong_p1.html

 

[Pseudonyme]

Sugar doesn't harm your teeth, sugar fuelling plaque that harm your teeth harms your teeth. By brushing before, you remove all the plaque, and the food doesn't harm your teeth to any great extent.

 

[aprildog18]

Clean teeth, shower, breakfast, perhaps floss (much more important than brushing) again if there's a particularly stuck piece of food, onwards. Never use mouthwash, 'tis a gimmick. Mother is a dental hygienist.

Don't understand the 'wipe ass, then defecate logic'. If your faeces left your sphincter in a state whereby wiping would wear it away I'd be hesitant.

EDIT: the bird dropping on the car is perhaps a more apt one, since the ammonia in that can damage the paint, and being too vigorous while removing it even more so.

That's what I was going to say. Good job that you saw through those false analogies. I was wondering why people kept doing the wipe ass analogy. The problem is that you have a low post count, so not many will care about your opinion.

 

[Zen Toombs]

After.

Just seems wierd to wipe your ass then take a shit.

Well said, and that is the way sense would have it. But as someone said, brushing immediately after eating results in weakening the enamel of your teeth. According to dentists, you should either brush before or well after eating. So while your way makes sense, in this case the best way is slightly counter-intuitive.

 

[ultimateownage]

Before. The stuff in your food can soften your teeth, and then you just fuck it up by brushing. I used to do it afterwards because I hated the taste, but I can't be fucked going back upstairs to go and brush my teeth after eating and tea is really good at removing the taste.

Brushing before eating is a complete waste of time.

No, it's not. It cleans your teeth. I really want to know what kind of diet these people must be eating to relate their breakfast to shit, because believe it or not food isn't covered with harmful bacteria.

 

[OriginalLadders]

Before. The stuff in your food can soften your teeth, and then you just fuck it up by brushing. I used to do it afterwards because I hated the taste, but I can't be fucked going back upstairs to go and brush my teeth after eating and tea is really good at removing the taste.

Brushing before eating is a complete waste of time.

No, it's not. It cleans your teeth. I really want to know what kind of diet these people must be eating to relate their breakfast to shit, because believe it or not food isn't covered with harmful bacteria.

No, but it feeds the bacteria in your mouth which erode your enamel. The sooner you brush after eating the sooner you get rid of it and so the less damage they do to your teeth.

If you've eaten or drunk anything particularly acid, (usually some kind of citrus fruit juice) that softens your enamel and so brushing can wear it away, but only when you've had something acidic (and even then, I've never seen any dentist recommend anything other than brushing half an hour afterwards, never before), the rest of the time you should brush immediately afterwards.

 

[Ddgafd]

I read about this on Cracked(the same thing some other guy posted above). A week ago there were some oral hygiene people giving a lecture on...well, oral hygiene at my school. I was really curious about this so I asked them which was better. They said before, but I don't brush my teeth in the mornings anyway so it doesn't matter to me.

EDIT. The "take a crap then wipe" analogy doesn't really work in my opinion. We're talking about teeth corroding due to eating and/or brushing. Does your ass corrode when you take a shit? If so, then I feel sorry for you, but I'm assuming most people will say no.

 

[ultimateownage]

Before. The stuff in your food can soften your teeth, and then you just fuck it up by brushing. I used to do it afterwards because I hated the taste, but I can't be fucked going back upstairs to go and brush my teeth after eating and tea is really good at removing the taste.

Brushing before eating is a complete waste of time.

No, it's not. It cleans your teeth. I really want to know what kind of diet these people must be eating to relate their breakfast to shit, because believe it or not food isn't covered with harmful bacteria.

Why do you need to clean your teeth before you've eaten??
Brushing removes lodged food that causes a build up of acid and help prevent plaque. To brush before eating completely defeats the point of brushing. You obviously have absolutely no idea why you brush your teeth because it has nothing to do with bacteria.

Before. The stuff in your food can soften your teeth, and then you just fuck it up by brushing. I used to do it afterwards because I hated the taste, but I can't be fucked going back upstairs to go and brush my teeth after eating and tea is really good at removing the taste.

Brushing before eating is a complete waste of time.

No, it's not. It cleans your teeth. I really want to know what kind of diet these people must be eating to relate their breakfast to shit, because believe it or not food isn't covered with harmful bacteria.

No, but it feeds the bacteria in your mouth which erode your enamel. The sooner you brush after eating the sooner you get rid of it and so the less damage they do to your teeth.

If you've eaten or drunk anything particularly acid, (usually some kind of citrus fruit juice) that softens your enamel and so brushing can wear it away, but only when you've had something acidic (and even then, I've never seen any dentist recommend anything other than brushing half an hour afterwards, never before), the rest of the time you should brush immediately afterwards.

Believe it or not, the chemicals in the toothpaste are still there when you eat your breakfast. They don't disappear instantly. And I tend to eat food which doesn't get lodged in my teeth like that.
By the way, yes brushing does remove the plaque even if it's before eating food. And a hell of a lot more things than just vinegar or fruit soften the enamel. And yes, brushing your teeth does involve bacteria.

Since when was brushing your teeth straight away in the morning so fucking controversial?

 

[OriginalLadders]

Believe it or not, the chemicals in the toothpaste are still there when you eat your breakfast. They don't disappear instantly. And I tend to eat food which doesn't get lodged in my teeth like that.
By the way, yes brushing does remove the plaque even if it's before eating food. And a hell of a lot more things than just vinegar or fruit soften the enamel. And yes, brushing your teeth does involve bacteria.

Since when was brushing your teeth straight away in the morning so fucking controversial?

You don't have to eat things which get lodged between your teeth for food to remain on your teeth, a fine residue will always be there after eating and this is what the bacteria feed on, it is also what is removed by brushing. As for softening enamel, I have only ever seen dentists recommend brushing after eating, and if you've drunk some kind of citrus fruit juice with breakfast, waiting for about half an hour. I'm not saying that brushing before eating doesn't clean your teeth, but that brushing after is far more effective.

 

[Enslave_All_Elves]

After. It makes my food taste weird otherwise.

 

[Jimbo1212]

Assuming you brushed your teeth right before you went to bed and had nothing to eat after; what exactly are you brushing off, if you brush your teeth before you have breakfast?

It's literally the same thing as washing your clothes, putting them away. Then washing them again before you wear them.

This.
I have never understood why people would brush before, unless they think that somehow saliva is acidic and corrosive to teeth. It would just be a waste of time and toothpaste.

 

[cartooner2008]

Sometimes before, sometimes after.

 

[Suicidejim]

Before. Otherwise my breakfast tastes like rat anus. Whereas if I brush my teeth it just tastes like minty rat anus.

. . . maybe I need to stop eating rat anus for breakfast.

 

[Jamieson 90]

Afterwards or else it tastes weird.

 

[srm79]

All the way through primary school, we would get a visit from the people at the cities dental hospital where they would hand out free toothbrushes, flavoured toothpastes and badges, stickers and whatnot. The aim of these visits was to encourage us to be aware of dental hygiene. The mantra I remember being taught was "Brush 3 times a day, AFTER every meal".

Stuck with me for life I suppose.

 

[Argtee]

Why would I brush my teeth BEFORE eating.

It just seems strange...

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

Brush after. What is the point of brushing before if you are going to get them dirty again immediately?