Do you brush your teeth before breakfast or after?

Seems to be a paywall for me, but why wouldn't you brush after? Isnt that the point? Do we brush before dinner then go to bed?

After breakfast, but mainly because I drink coffee with breakfast and that stuff makes your breath stinks. Sometimes I’ll brush right after waking up but that usually only if my mouth feels dry or something.

A good friend of mine said he would brush before - “That way you’re eating with clean teeth”. Which is one of the strangest reasonings I’ve heard.

Huh, there isn’t that much difference in the heat and humidity over the course of an entire day between the shower area of the bathroom and the rest of the bathroom.

Both, before and after, you dirty heathens...

This is a question that would never ever come up in Britain.

if you are eating breakfast at all, you're a sucker for the breakfast cereal industry.

You don't need to eat until around noon. You weren't starving as you slept, you used almost no energy at all, and that mostly fat. Meanwhile you synthesized and maxxed out your stores of glycogen in muscles and liver

you mean according to this article nobody can read, stop linking to paywalled garbage

if you do before, you don't really need to floss after since the flouride will protect your teeth from whatever food bacteria that gets melted down

if you do after, you need to wait at least 10 or 15 mins or you brush off your enamel and you also need to floss since the food chunks will block spots of your teeth from getting brushed and absorbing flouride.

so technically speaking before is easier

I brush before and after.

Fine.

The case for brushing before breakfast

For many people, breakfast includes sugary carbohydrates, said Dr. Carlos Gonzalez-Cabezas, a dentist, professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. Cereals, breads, muffins and pancakes — these all contain fermentable carbohydrates that bacteria love to feed on.

And when you wake up in the morning, Dr. de Aguiar Ribeiro added, bacterial levels in your mouth are at their peak — “that’s why we have bad breath when we wake up.”

So a mouth rife with bacteria and a breakfast full of sugary carbs means that conditions are perfect for the bacteria to flourish and multiply. When this happens, they release acids that can wear down the protective enamel on your teeth, making them more prone to cavities, Dr. de Aguiar Ribeiro said. Brushing before breakfast clears that bacteria away, denying them the opportunity to feed on your food.

Another reason to brush before breakfast is to jump-start the production of saliva, Dr. de Aguiar Ribeiro added, which is one of the most protective forces for your teeth. Saliva helps strengthen your teeth by depositing minerals that bacteria may have eaten away overnight. It also contains bicarbonate that helps to neutralize the acidity in your mouth. An added bonus, she said, is that if your toothpaste contains fluoride, it will make your teeth more resistant to decay by strengthening your enamel and neutralizing the acids from breakfast.

And finally, said Dr. Rocio Quinonez, a professor of pediatric dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a reason to integrate brushing into your “getting up” routine is to prevent the possibility that you will run out of time or forget to do it later. This is especially true if you have kids, she added, because tooth brushing is most likely the last thing on your mind once you’ve scarfed down breakfast and are rushing out the door.

The case for brushing after breakfast

On the other hand, there are arguments for waiting until after breakfast to brush, Dr. Gonzalez-Cabezas said.

“The reality is that most people don’t brush that well,” he said, so even if you brush right before breakfast, you probably will still have bacteria lingering in your mouth that could multiply and produce acids during breakfast and for the rest of the day, so you may as well brush after you eat to minimize that lingering food.

And, he said, the fluoride from your toothpaste will work better throughout the day if it is not displaced by chewing food right after you brush.

Some experts argue that brushing your teeth too soon after a meal — especially one with acidic beverages like coffee or orange juice — will damage your enamel. That is true, Dr. Gonzalez-Cabezas said, but the actual damage that could be done would be so minimal that it wouldn’t really affect the health of your teeth. So to him, the benefits of post-breakfast brushing outweigh the potential negatives.

Dr. de Aguiar Ribeiro recommended that if you can, wait at least 30 minutes after a meal to brush. If you want to get rid of lingering breakfast bits before then, she suggested drinking or swishing water.

Finally, while it’s true that the bacteria present in your mouth right after waking up will feast on your breakfast and produce damaging acids, Dr. Gonzalez-Cabezas said that most people eat breakfast pretty quickly — usually completing their meal within 10 to 15 minutes. That isn’t enough time to do a ton of damage, he said, so again, he believes the benefits of brushing after breakfast — being able to rid your mouth of any food particles and leave fluoride on your teeth — outweigh the negative effects of whatever acids might be produced by bacteria while you are eating.

In his opinion, most people should brush after breakfast, schedule permitting.

After. Unless you want minty tasting orange juice, eggs and coffee.

I used to brush & floss twice daily, but I'm old so I'm throttling it back as I head into the shoreline of my lifespan

What do you mean “brush”?

It’s like a rapacious bush.

you guys still have teeth?

Brush my teeth first thing don't usually eat until la

I read that healthwise, eating a breakfast is important.

I agree that I don't feel at all like I need to, but I do it for the health reasons. And include some protein, too, which the recommend interspersed throughout the day for best results.

I have a sleep apnea mouthguard that needs to get cleaned upon waking, so I just get the whole thing done upon waking.

A little stretching while standing since I never met a multitasking opportunity I didn't like.

Brushing with a minty flavor before drinking orange juice does not spark joy. Brushing while eating breakfast during hill sprints at 2am sparks concern. Not brushing and no breakfast spark cringe and cravings. Mostly if you are human and limited in the associated ways.