Chelsea Lee
Medical Research Editor
WhereismyDoctor.com

How Brushing Your Teeth Can Cause Damage

June 30th, 2012

The importance of brushing your teeth is not earth-shattering information. But the when’s and how’s of doing so, well that might be news to you.

Apparently there is a tremendous benefit to holding off about a half hour on the tooth brush following a corrosive meal.

Corrosive foods include but are not limited to sodas, coffee, or basically anything acidic.

These types of foods are known to wear down tooth enamel as well as the layer below the enamel known as dentin.

Experts believe that brushing too soon after drinking a soda or a coffee can actually speed up the damaging process faster than the corrosive food would have done on its own.

President of the Academy of General Dentistry, Dr. Howard R. Gamble, agrees with this theory saying, “With Brushing, you could actually push the acid deeper into the enamel and the dentin.”

A volunteer research study involving differently timed brushing habits showed that thirty minutes is the most beneficial window of time to wait to brush your teeth following a meal.

The volunteers placed dentin samples inside of their mouths and drank typically corrosive drinks.

Those volunteers who brushed after only twenty minutes saw more damage to the dentin than the control volunteers who did not brush at all.

Researchers on the study point out that “after intra-oral periods of 30 and 60 min, wear was not significantly higher than in unbrushed controls.”

The moral of the story is sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

Brushing is a vital part of good oral hygiene, but just be sure you don’t go overboard by brushing immediately after every meal.

As the study researchers put it, “It is concluded that for protection of dentin surfaces at least 30 min should elapse before toothbrushing after an erosive attack.”

Contact a dentist near you.