Stop Rinsing Your Teeth With Water After Brushing. We’ll Explain Why
Do you rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth?
If so, stop today because there are some benefits to leaving the extra bit of toothpaste on your teeth.
I used to rinse my mouth after brushing
and even re-brush with a wet toothbrush to remove any toothpaste left in my mouth.
But then I found out from a dentist’s TikTok video that this wasn’t the most effective way to do it.
On the contrary, I don’t need to rinse my mouth with water now,
but rather spit out as much toothpaste as possible, so that the toothpaste can have more effect.
However, I was not sure why I was doing this,
nor did I know the benefits of doing so until I had a conversation with an expert.
I interviewed Dr. Edmond Hewlett
a consumer consultant at the American Dental Association
and professor at the School of Dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles
to understand why rinsing with water is not recommended after brushing teeth. The answer is here.
For more tips, please click here to learn why to use dental floss before brushing your teeth.
What if you’ve been rinsing all your life?
If you have just learned this little trick,
you may think that the hard work of brushing your teeth every day is in vain. But the fact is not so.
Hewlett said that as long as you brush your teeth twice a day according to the standard,
each time for two minutes, fluoride will stay in your mouth, helping to protect your teeth.
You are still doing what oral health needs to do to protect your teeth.
Not rinsing your mouth is just an additional step that can help fluoride exert greater effects.
Hewlett said, “When you measure the fluoride content in a person’s saliva,
if they don’t rinse their mouth, there will be more fluoride.”.
But if you rinse your mouth, it won’t waste your time either.
He said that research is still ongoing to determine the long-term effect of mouthwash on preventing dental caries.
