Have you ever had orange juice after brushing your teeth? It’s not great. But what about coffee??
In new reporting from the Huffington Post, it turns out 9 out of 10 dentists agree: you should be brushing your teeth before drinking coffee, flavor be darned. This is a bit counterintuitive from the answer we all presumably expected, which is that you should brush after coffee to help scrub off those coffee stains. But according to Dr. Christina Meiners, a dentist at San Antonio’s CommuniCare Health Centers, brushing your teeth beforehand gets rid of any plaque buildup that coffee stains adhere to.
And as it turns out, brushing your teeth post-coffee can actually damage those chompers. Per the HuffPost, the acidity in coffee puts them in a weaker state, and brushing while your teeth are weaker is more likely to damage the enamel.
“You don’t want to be brushing when your environment is acidic, it’s chemically abrasive,” said Sonya Krasilnikov, a dentist at New York City’s Dental House. Meiners said that when you do, “you’re brushing more acid onto your teeth, and that can actually the to break down faster, cause more sensitivities.”
For those wanting to stick to a post-coffee brushing, Dr. Krasilnikov suggests waiting at least 30 minutes to allow your saliva to neutralize the pH in your mouth. Dr. Meiners suggests chewing sugar-free gum before brushing to stimulate saliva production.
Frankly I hate this reporting. I would rather have kickin’ morning breath than corrupt the delicate flavor balance of my Madagascar Wush Wush with notes of wintergreen. If the choice is between not being able to taste my coffee all so I can continue to have bones grow out of my face like some prehistoric dinosaur trying to fend off predators, or accepting the full bounty of that first cuppa each day but looking like a member of the second string goon squad from some Manitoba beer league hockey team, well then let’s lace ‘em up, you hosers. We’re drinking our coffee from a life-size replica of Lord Stanley’s cup.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
