Should you brush your teeth before or after breakfast? What about before or after flossing?

It's well known that you should brush at least twice a day and floss once a day, but in what order and when should you do it?

 

Specifically, let's pose a couple of questions:

• Should you brush your teeth before or after breakfast?

• In most cases, you should actually brush your teeth before breakfast. It might make sense to brush your teeth after you eat in order to clean your teeth of all the breakfast food you just ate, but if you ate an acidic breakfast that could actually be damaging. Acidic breakfast foods like orange juice, coffee, and fruit can weaken enamel and brushing right after could damage your teeth while the enamel is weakened.

• If you do brush your teeth after breakfast, it's better to just rinse your mouth and maybe drink some milk or eat some cheese to reduce the acidity inside your mouth. Then you can brush your teeth after about 30 minutes once your saliva has helped re-mineralize your enamel.

• Should I brush first or floss first?

• According to a recent study conducted in 2018 by the Dental Materials Research Center, flossing before brushing reduces whole plaque and increases the amount of fluoride between teeth.1Along with this, brushing after flossing can help clear all of the particles that were dislodged by the floss.

Here at Denti-Pal, we care about helping you save your teeth before they even get cavities. The order of brushing your teeth can help in the preservation of your teeth, but the most important thing is remembering to brush and floss every day!

1Mazhari F, Boskabady M, Moeintaghavi A, Habibi A. The effect of toothbrushing and flossing sequence on interdental plaque reduction and fluoride retention: A randomized controlled clinical trial. J Periodontol. 2018 Jul;89(7):824-832. doi: 10.1002/JPER.17-0149. Epub 2018 Jul 20. PMID: 29741239.