The late doctor Michael Mosley tweeted at the start of the year about the topic
To brush or not to brush…Do you brush your teeth and then have breakfast, or breakfast and then brush? If you do it after – it’s good news. But if you are one of the folks who do it after, then dentists are urging you to stop. According to the people in the know, doing this daily task after can actually damage your teeth.
Urging people to change their bad habits, Dr Rana Al-Falaki put the debate to bed, saying: “The answer we give patients is to brush before breakfast – and it’s the answer many don’t expect.”
“As a dentist, this is actually one of the most commonly asked questions”, the doctor says. “The answer we give patients is to brush before breakfast, otherwise all the bacteria in your mouth that has built up over night get to indulge in a feast on everything you eat or drink, and if you have fruit juice in the morning, brushing straight after is big problem. In addition, brushing your teeth after is more likely to make your breath smell worse than if you brush pre-breakfast.”
As well as this, she also cautions using mouthwash saying that you should use this at a specific time adding it’s “best practice not to use mouthwash straight after brushing your teeth, but to let the fluoride and other benefits of the toothpaste remain on your teeth and do its job”. Recommending her patients to use toothpaste after eating breakfast or in the middle of the day to help maintain good breath, she says this is particularly important if you suffer from sensitive teeth. If this is the case, then rinsing with mouthwash in the middle of the day can help with sensitivity”, Dr Rana adds.
This was a topic also debated by the late doctor, Michael Mosley, who wrote on X at the start of this year: “Does anyone brush their teeth BEFORE breakfast? That’s the advice from the American Dental Association. If you don’t do it before, (you) should wait at least 30 mins after in case acid from meal weakens enamel and brushing damages.”
