If you brush yer teefs, will you resist eating/drinking?

[d_and_n5000]

I voted for the "Brush, eat, and then don't brush" one.

What can I say, I'm lazy.

With my braces and all(the horrible painful instruments of pain and torture they are), I should probably change my whole outlook on this, but I already spend, in my mind, too much time brushing as is, making sure I get everywhere I need to, etc. No reason to go through that again just because I ate.

Swishing water is usually sufficient to get the really big bits of food caught in the brackets. Also rinses off some sugar and such, which helps with the cavities a bit.

 

[EricNau]

Yes, I will resist; once I brush my teeth for the night, I'm done.

 

[killerrobot]

About the only thing that I won't drink/eat after brushing my teeth is orange juice/oranges. </shutters> That's definitely most foul.

 

[PowerFullMac]

I only brush once a day. I is lazy.

 

[Mord]

No, toothpaste makes things taste funny.

 

[119576]

I'll just have a glass of water to rinse out some of the minty freshness, then eat and brush my teeth again.

But I'm a brushaholic.

 

[RedTomato]

I seem to recall that tooth damage comes from a combination of plaque, bacteria, and sugars from food.

(Bacteria live in plaque, which is a thin clear biofilm that forms on the teeth, feed on the sugars from the food, and after a few hours, secrete an acid that corrodes the teeth.)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_plaque

Hence if you remove any one of these, then you're safe for a while.

Brushing teeth removes plaque, and some of the bacteria. (It'll grow back in a few hours)

Hence eating quite soon after brushing should be fine, as there is no plaque present

I've seen some dentists say that brushing before eating is actually *more* effective than brushing afterwards, as people usually eat, then don't brush till a couple of hours later, when most of the damage is already done.

I personally couldn't brush before meals, as the mint makes food taste horrible.

The main problem with eating after brushing would be leaving trapped bits of food around the teeth, which then are still in the mouth, providing sugars, when the plaque has grown back.

In that situation, I'd give a quick brush (with or without toothpaste) and rinse out a couple of times, with the aim of clearing out crumbs and trapped particles of food.

Hope that helps.

x RedTomato

 

[::Lisa::]

I don't bother brushing after I eat something. Maybe sometimes go rinse my mouth out. But to be honest I don't think about it and my teeth have always been OK.