If I eat immediately after brushing and flossing my teeth (say before bed), do I still gain some dental benefits or is it like I never brushed? Is there something good about getting the ‘old’ food that’s been sitting there for awhile even if I’m putting new food on there?
Comments
This is better than just not brushing.
Brushing removes plaque from your teeth and if plaque stays for too long it hardens and gets tougher to remove. You also get rid of debris that may be at your gum line causing irritation.
But def best not to go to sleep with food in your teeth.
I’d lean on “yes”.
You’re removing established acid producing biofilm and renewing the calcium fluoride layer that protects the surface.
So still a net positive. But eating after just accelerates the buildup of new biofilm and breakdown of the new calcium fluoride layer.
Yes. You’re not just removing old food, you’re also removing bacteria and bacterial waste products (acid). It’ll take much longer for a bunch of new bacteria to grow if you’ve just removed most of them, even if you do immediately dump a bunch of bacteria food (sugar) in there.
Probably best to not have food in your mouth/teeth/gums while sleeping all night.
Yes, disrupting the biofilm on your teeth is a benefit anytime you do it. It takes time to re-form, so a meal right after flossing/brushing won’t negate all the benefit.
Anything worth doing is worth doing partially.
Yes.
The main reason to brush/floss your teeth is to prevent tooth decay which is caused by the acids that are a byproduct of the metabolic processes of bacteria that live on your teeth. These bacteria form colonies that are protected by a layer of biofilm that they secret. When you brush/floss, it breaks up that biofilm and disturbs/removes a lot of those colonies.
They grow back quickly, especially if there is now trace amounts of the food you have just eaten to provide nutrition for them, but you’ll still come out well ahead compared to not having brushed at all.
Glad to see some honest answers. Not just “well you shouldn’t do that anyway”.
yes. the contents of your saliva are what turn into plaque and calculus and this hardening occurs about every 48 hours. one of the purposes of brushing is to disrupt this process, and flossing acts as a way of brushing the sides of the teeth. (highly recommend woven floss as regular floss mostly removes just food bits).
another purpose of brushing is to put fluoride into the surfaces of your teeth. fluoride has been shown in countless studies to be beneficial to dental health.
flossing also serves the purpose of stimulating the gums, which is good for their health and the health of your teeth.
what i assume you mean is: will eating food after brushing be ineffective because my mouth with smell like food again? will i be feeding bacteria?
the answer is yes, but this in an endless cycle, so don’t worry about it. drinking lots of water throughout the day is helpful for this. but brushing after dinner and before bed is ideal.
Yes. I heard a dentist here say that “it’s not just that you’re removing the food for the bacteria, you’re kicking an ant hill and all their colony building gets wiped out, so they have to keep starting over.”
Dental hygienist here. Yes you do. Honestly you still get a lot of benefit gum health wise, but not so much tooth health wise. A big part of flossing is physically and mechanically stimulating the gum tissue causing it to keratinize. Like building calluses on your hands from weight lifting. The action of the floss stimulating the gums causes the tissue to toughen up over time which is what we want.
However if you eat right away after food is going back in those areas possibly and that’s a source of food for oral bacteria which is going to lead to acid production which causes cavities
Besides the other points made here, the flouride adds a protective barrier to your teeth to help prevent damage from acids. That is why its good to brush your teeth before eating breakfast. However, it is generally recommended to wait 30 minutes so I am not sure how much it really helps if you eat immediately after*.
edit – how much the fluoride helps. Brushing still helps in other ways that has been pointed out.
I’m surprised that most people say it helps. I had heard once that it was worse because brushing removed some protective layers or enamel. And if you didnt give your teeth/mouth time to regenerate that it would make it so your teeth took MORE damage from the sugar content
Yes, it cleans plaque and other buildup/gunk stuck in there and maintains gum health. Unless its immediately very acidic foods/beverages, and then that abrasion actually makes your enamel more vulnerable.
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly. You’d rather this routine than none at all
I hear eating right after brushing can cause issues with your enamel but I imagine letting older food rot there longer is more detrimental so like others are saying, it’s better it’s done that way than not at all but its certainly not ideal
Part of the entire point is to remove food debris so it doesn’t build up bacteria, etc. Going through that process then eating seems a bit bass ackwards. It’s still better than not doing it at all, but really do you take a shower, then go do stuff that is going to get you dirty and then go to bed?
Why would you do that?
I always heard to brush before eating to kill the plaque bacteria. The food you eat is acidic and can soften your enamel and brushing after eating can damage your teeth.