And floss too. If it’s the evening, that’s a perfect time to do it. If it’s the morning, great time as well. Middle of the day? You’ve probably had food, brush them teeth. If you’ve recently (but not immediately after, wait a bit, drink some water) eaten, that’s a perfect time to brush. Especially if you’ve recently had something sugary (avoid sugary stuff, also like I said not too recently).

And if you can, and haven’t recently, see a dentist.

Your teeth are precious, and hard to replace. Lack of proper dental care can in many ways amount to a tax on the poor, where a lack of proper preventative care can turn mouths into an unaffordably fixable mess. Get people in your community to take care of their teeth too.

There’s really only a few situations where you shouldn’t be brushing your teeth right now: you vomited recently (brushing after vomiting can degrade the protective coating on your teeth), or you brushed recently.

Not having the equipment for it on you is only an excuse this once, carrying that stuff with you is a good idea. You eat and drink throughout the day, so you should brush and floss throughout the day. And who knows when you’ll need to be presentable? You don’t want to barrage your comrades, friends, partners, or “path to promotion” (your bosses) with bad breath.

  • Gorb [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    22·
    2 months ago

    I will never floss, its a conspiracy made up by Big Floss to make me engage in the most tedious activity to ever exist. I will simply allow the plaque to calcify between my teeth which creates a seal forming a unitooth which doesn’t need flossing. Explain that liberals.

  • Aradina [She/They]@lemmy.mlEnglish
    20·
    2 months ago

    You shouldn’t brush directly after eating acidic foods for the same reason you shouldn’t after you vomit. Wait after eating to brush.

      • oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
        7·
        2 months ago

        Also, random fun fact, I pH tested a meal I have relatively frequently (took small bits of the meals components, in about the ratio the whole would have, then blended 'em up), and it came out as almost perfectly neutral (greens tend to be basic). I didn’t do that for the pH or anything, I was a lot more curious about what harmful materials it might contain. I had access to some relatively fancy unused lab equipment (or, more accurately, a friend did), so I figured I might as well use it.

        Interestingly, while most brown rice had fairly high arsenic levels (as is expected), brown rice from this one local asian market was at white-rice levels. I didn’t ever end up doing anything meaningful with the data I collected (it’s just in a notebook I have), and it wasn’t really proper enough to be turned into a real study. Didn’t even ask the people at the asian market where they got their brown rice from (and then they shut down during the pandemic).

      • Aradina [She/They]@lemmy.mlEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        The acid in food basically softens your teeth slightly. it’s not normally a huge deal, but brushing while it’s soft can damage the enamel

  • PapaEmeritusIII [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    14·
    2 months ago

    You’re gonna damage your enamel if you brush that often. You do not have to brush every time you eat (unless you have a specific situation where a dentist advises you to, I guess).

    Also, the concept of halitosis was popularized in order to advertise mouthwash

    • oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      your enamel

      Interesting story about that, actually. A number of my family members just don’t have enamel on their teeth (or only in some spots), some weird genetic thing (not erosion, just like that from the start). My baby teeth were like that, and also got quite fucked up for unrelated reasons. Then my adult teeth popped in, they had abnormally strong enamel (apparently something from the other side of the family). There were times where I didn’t treat my teeth very well (common with addiction), and yet I’ve never had a cavity. I don’t feel heat through my teeth, really at all.

      I do however get excessive plaque, and am somewhat at risk for gum issues. That, along with my strong enamel, means that a few dental professionals have independently told me it’s better for me to brush more often than others, and to be “less gentle”. I also at one point had braces (messed up baby teeth carried over a little), and at that point in particular they told me to brush a lot (so there wouldn’t be a color difference between what’s under the brackets, and the rest).

      So I brush three times a day, instead of the usual two. My post wasn’t really my daily brushing routine, it was more begging people to brush a little (too many people don’t). And to floss. And to go to the dentist (I know a guy who didn’t go for two decades, until he finally got insurance that covered it. Wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but also he had several cavities).

      halitosis

      It’s not like it doesn’t exist, though. And, more to the point, a lot of “bad breath” seems to have more to do with what they’ve eaten, than underlying medical condition. I mentioned that this was a call out elsewhere, so lets just say: please, please, please stop eating the stinky fish. At least it’s not those Scandinavian ones that stink up all of everything, but it’s still not pleasant.

  • hypercracker@hexbear.netEnglish
    14·
    2 months ago

    Dentists are almost all scammers and are less trustworthy than a used car salesman nursing a particularly vicious coke habit. Yeah I go to the dentist like everybody else but holy fuck the number of times different offices have tried to run scams on me is beyond any other profession including oil change places. If you go to a new dentist and they recommend you like five different procedures totaling thousands of dollars they are almost certainly a scammer. Unfortunately you can’t trust reviews, different dentists at the exact same office can have totally different levels of honesty.

    • oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      Yeah, finding a good dentist is really important. The “family friend (or similar) that you personally know from things unrelated to dentistry” strat has worked pretty well for me. “Small town in a big city” type of thing, I guess. Often I connect with dental medical professionals (orthodontic, dentist, etc,) over academic pursuits. Lots of them are quite smart, and like to exercise it. That strategy doesn’t always work well with other medical fields, and personally knowing dentists can be hard (it’s not like there’s a huge number of them).

      It reminds me of the situation with therapists, a lot. Quality can vary wildly, cost can vary wildly, and peoples experiences often do not line up, even with the same person.

      It’s not like therapists or dentists are inherently bad, it’s just a situation that can easily turn predatory (especially considering, like I said, how struggles with prevention in poorer communities lead to great cost later on).

  • 🏴 hamid abbasi [he/him] 🏴@vegantheoryclub.orgEnglish
    13·
    2 months ago

    My brother is a dentist who did a stint doing research. He explained that there is a huge improvement going from a regular tooth brush to an electric toothbrush and that everyone should be using an electric toothbrush. The other interesting fact that there is no difference between a cheap 7 dollar electric tooth brush that uses AA batteries and a top of the line 250 dollar sonicare. I use an Oral-B electric toothbrush and generic heads from the internet and it works great.

  • Procapra [comrade/them, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    12·
    2 months ago

    brushing after vomiting can degrade the protective coating on your teeth

    Was anyone else taught the exact opposite as a kid? I was told that you had to drink a glass of water to clear your throat, and that you needed to brush your teeth so your teeth didn’t become damaged by the stomach acids.

  • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    12·
    2 months ago

    I didn’t brush enough when I was younger and now have 6 fillings including a root canal, and an entirely fake tooth due to another root canal. If it weren’t for the NHS I’d have 7 missing teeth.

    #BRUSH YOUR FUCKING TEETH PROPERLY

    • Clippy [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      there is a whole thing with dentistry up selling you too, with how people are paid - i’m always a bit worried about for profit dentistries and how offices get away with excessive procedures knowing we will never know

      • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        I can’t speak for everyone but I do know for certain that I haven’t been upsold anything - my dentist has always refused to do any unnecessary work (like i asked about braces when I was younger because i have a few wonky teeth and he told me that unless they’re actually causing pain he isn’t worried about them) and has always taken x-rays and shown me the cavities before doing any fillings. The root canals I definitely know I needed because one infection caused my gum to swell up, and the other caused my tooth to actually explode while eating an American smartie.

        Fuck American smarties btw, shit sweets. Definitely not worth losing a tooth.

  • heggs_bayer [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    2 months ago

    If you haven’t flossed in forever and get a little bit of blood when flossing, fret not: it’s just some cysts that grow between your teeth. A regular flossing habit will get rid of them and you won’t bleed anymore.

    Also, be sure to get your brush close to the area where the gums meet the teeth when brushing. It’s an easy to miss area.

    • Chronicon [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      Also, be sure to get your brush close to the area where the gums meet the teeth when brushing. It’s an easy to miss area.

      I did this for ages before the dentist told me I was doing it

      someone taught me how to brush wrong as a kid I swear to god.

  • LanyrdSkynrd [comrade/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    The dentist I last saw told me it’s more important to floss after every meal than brush. He was saying that stuck bits of food in your teeth trap bacteria and start cavities. He also advised against eating soft dry foods that get packed into your teeth, like crackers, for the same reason.

    I don’t know how true it is, but it makes sense to me given that cavities seem to happen most often in the places that food gets trapped.

  • abc [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    REAL POST

    maddened I JUST WENT TO THE DENTIST THE OTHER DAY AND SPENT $900 OUT OF POCKET FOR A CROWN BECAUSE THE WAY MY FUCKIN WISDOM TEETH GREW IN BEFORE BEING EXTRACTED CAUSED A CAVITY TO FORM IN AN IMPOSSIBLE TO FILL AREA

    my poor gums obama-spike salt water gargles my beloved…peroxyl mouthwash save my injured gums they’re fucked up from the crown…

  • TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    I recently found out that for the past thirty-four years I’ve been missing a spot when I floss. ohnoes

    It’s the interior lower incisors. There is a lot more exposed enamel on the inside of these teeth than the outside. If you floss in the mirror you have to lower your head and open your jaw wide to see them, and to reach them you have to pull the floss down further with the fingers on the inside of your mouth. My dentist said tartar there is “normal” (to make me feel better?😢).