YOU may have been taught to brush twice daily — after breakfast and before bed — but doing so straight after breakfast is not the best time, because acidity from food and drink can soften the enamel, the hard outer layer that protects teeth from decay.
As Dr Ben Atkins, a dentist and trustee of the dental charity Oral Health Foundation, explains, brushing at this point can wear away the enamel (he brushes his teeth ‘as soon as I get out of bed’, he says).
You could wait half an hour to give the acidic substances time to wash away naturally, but that may not be convenient.
So brush before breakfast — and if you want that clean-mouth feel after eating, try chewing sugar-free gum, which will stimulate saliva production, which will then wash away any food debris and restore the pH in the mouth so it is less acidic.
© Solo dmg media
