Are You Cleaning Your Teeth…

Are You Cleaning Your Teeth All Wrong?

1st April 2022

It’s the most basic ‘taking care of yourself task, but here are the surprisingly common teeth brushing mistakes that a dentist wants you to stop making…

We’re taught to clean our teeth from toddler times onwards, but could we actually be getting the whole brushing business wrong? If you’re used to having a good rinse after brushing and giving your pegs a going over after breakfast, you could be in for some dental revelations. We put our burning brushing questions to Dr Milad Shadrooh, aka The Singing Dentist, and discovered that we’ve been misusing mouthwash and possibly not polishing to our full potential. Guilty as charged, and we’re not the only ones – here are some of the biggest mistakes we make when it comes to teeth brushing…

1. You’re brushing after breakfast

Most of us know not to brush our teeth immediately after a bowl of Crunchy Nut (give it at least 15 minutes), but it turns out that even cleaning before we dash out of the door isn’t ideal, and here’s why:

“We should be cleaning our teeth before breakfast, preferably as soon as we wake up. This is because, while we’re sleeping, plaque and bacteria builds up in our mouth (hence morning breath) and if we have breakfast before brushing, we’re essentially feeding that bacteria as well as feeding ourselves.”

In short, greedy mouth goblins are appreciating that piece of toast as much as you are. So what’s the ideal brushing window?

“If possible, try to leave 20 to 30 minutes after brushing teeth to eat breakfast. This will allow fluoride to coat the teeth and neutralize the bacteria that causes tooth decay. Don’t panic if you can’t – brushing before breakfast helps in itself.”

Also, it goes without saying that you should brush your teeth twice a day. We’re not savages here.

2. You’re brushing for less than two minutes

Do you know long you’re supposed to clean your teeth for? Precisely? If you’re waving a toothbrush around your gob until you get bored, we’ve got some specifics for you:

“Official brushing time stands at two minutes. This is the optimum amount of time to give your teeth a thorough clean, and in my experience a lot of tooth decay problems are triggered by the fact that people don’t spend long enough cleaning, and as a result they miss bits.”

Speaking of which…

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