I'm surprised that this isn't self-evident. Flossing dislodges stuff from between your teeth. Brushing beforehand means you don't have an opportunity to remove that stuff.
My dentist says the opposite, since toothbrush bristles don't get between the teeth. According to her, brushing after flossing just pushes all the dislodged stuff back between the teeth.
In my opinion, it doesn't really matter which you do first, as long as you rinse well after each step. I brush first - get most of it with the brush and rinse, then get the rest of it with the floss and rinse.
General awareness of if what you’re doing is successfully getting stuff out of your teeth beats following a guiding principle and trusting it’s automatically working.
There's the argument that flossing afterwards would drag some fluoride/nHAP to the space between your teeth which wouldn't be reachable by the toothbrush.
So I floss during brushing. One pass with the toothbrush, floss, second pass with toothbrush, rinse.
My logic was that brushing deposits fluoride onto the teeth, and that I want that there.
Flossing feels not that different from following up toothbrushing by rinsing (bad): it's removing a bunch of the amazing good stuff the toothpaste is designed to deposit.
I have talked about this flossing topic surprisingly often and it's one of the reasons I believe the majority of people are idiots with zero critical thinking. Especially in regards to health. No one seems to read inlets or understand them. It's awful.
On the subject of dental health: Bill Burr, the comedian, worked as a dental assistant when he was younger. He gave a piece of advice on his podcast that I wish I had heard when I was young: if a dentist tells you that you have a cavity, get a second opinion.
Once that outer layer of enamel is breached, it will never be as resilient again.
It so happens that this is what I was doing, which is good. However, for years I was brushing after eating my breakfast because I assumed it was the better way as then you aren't going about your day with your breakfast on your teeth. But when I looked into it I found that for a variety of reasons it is apparently better to brush before breakfast. So it was an important lesson in not assuming the "obvious" (to you) way is the best.
There are 'best to brush' timelines around eating/drinking. Usually you want to either:
- Brush no less than 15m before eating
- Do not brush until 45m+ after eating
I don't fully understand the science, as I'm not a dentist, but it's something related to the way that things stick to/are absorbed by enamel and dentin.
I believe water is the exception here, you can drink water and then immediately brush. You should not brush and then immediately drink water though. You want the toothpaste to stick around and form a barrier.
No, mouthwash after brushing removes the fluoride that the toothpaste has just deposited. Similarly, avoid rinsing after brushing.
There's not really a 'good' time to use mouthwash. Maybe an hour or more after a meal, if you're in a rush - but no sooner than that, as the tooth enamel will still be softened by the food.
Using mouthwash every time is not ideal because most mouthwashes disrupt your oral microbiome which will result in undesired side-effects like teeth staining etc.
I've heard this before, yet my mouth remains... unaffected.
What does an "oral microbiome" even mean? I understand what it means in the literal sense, but would a person's mouth be dysfunctional if it were hypothetically devoid of microbes? Is there an accepted healthy oral microbiome composition?
For anyone who's curious, Reach TotalCare Floss is the best:
* Very shred-resistant
* Grippy, even when wet, so you don't have to turn your fingertips purple
* Thin enough to fit most teeth, but supposed to have some sort of textured surface to work better
I find that regular old Reach waxed works just as well, and has two benefits over Totalcare: it's more comfortable and it's cheaper — dirt cheap for floss, really.
For me at least, traditional floss shreds and breaks. The finger-tips aspect is a deal breaker for me. Floss is such a minor expense at the end of the day, it doesn't make sense to worry about the price -- that said, the non-slippery-when-wet aspect means you can use less of Totalcare, evening out the price differential somewhat.
I also rinse after flossing before brushing. Then I rinse again after brushing.
I also rinse throughout the day whenever I can. It's not a routine for me as much as a habit along with generally always having plenty of water to keep things moving and clean.
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In my opinion, it doesn't really matter which you do first, as long as you rinse well after each step. I brush first - get most of it with the brush and rinse, then get the rest of it with the floss and rinse.
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2. Brush without toothpaste.
3. Floss
4. Brush with toothpaste.
So I floss during brushing. One pass with the toothbrush, floss, second pass with toothbrush, rinse.
Flossing feels not that different from following up toothbrushing by rinsing (bad): it's removing a bunch of the amazing good stuff the toothpaste is designed to deposit.
Once that outer layer of enamel is breached, it will never be as resilient again.
(My second thought after typing that was "I suppose I could just ask an LLM though")
- Brush no less than 15m before eating
- Do not brush until 45m+ after eating
I don't fully understand the science, as I'm not a dentist, but it's something related to the way that things stick to/are absorbed by enamel and dentin.
I believe water is the exception here, you can drink water and then immediately brush. You should not brush and then immediately drink water though. You want the toothpaste to stick around and form a barrier.
Brush first thing in the morning (before your first meal/drink, other than water), and last thing at night (well after your last meal).
Plaque acid is at its lowest, so this approach results in the least damage to enamel from brushing. (Amongst other reasons.)
For a similar reason, only have a thorough brush in the morning, and a mild brush in the evening.
There's not really a 'good' time to use mouthwash. Maybe an hour or more after a meal, if you're in a rush - but no sooner than that, as the tooth enamel will still be softened by the food.
What does an "oral microbiome" even mean? I understand what it means in the literal sense, but would a person's mouth be dysfunctional if it were hypothetically devoid of microbes? Is there an accepted healthy oral microbiome composition?
I also rinse throughout the day whenever I can. It's not a routine for me as much as a habit along with generally always having plenty of water to keep things moving and clean.
Even fluorided mouthwash is about 100x less fluoride than toothpaste.
Rinsing at other times is good, though.