Bit Off Topic Mouth Acid

[J Stone]

Looks like the latest scientific information coming from dentists is that if you brush your teeth straight away after a meal, especially a sugary dessert; you are simply brushing the sugar and acid all around the mouth likely causing more damage.

So they say wait for at least half an hour for the salvia to neutralise the acid and then brush.

However it seems that this is not practical in normal everyday situations. For instance hurrying off to work in the morning after breakfast and also being given only limited time for lunch by employers.

What would be a good way around this dilemma? Is there a good way to neutralise acid and sugar immediately after a meal and before brushing? Other than using chemically laden and expensive mouthwashes?

[GB]

Best bet is to brush your teeth *before* meals, apparently. That reduces the plaque load, and hence there's less to feed on the sugar.

[Nick]

We tend to use table salt in warm/hot water rather than commercial mouthwashes. Although as salt and water are both chemicals you may not want to use them!

[Chris Hogg]

Hmmm...sounds rather counter-intuitive, but a mouthwash with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) would neutralise any acids. Probably not a very nice after-taste though. Note that baking soda is not the same as baking powder; the latter contains additional tartaric acid. Not sure how you would 'neutralise' the sugar. Sugar rots your teeth because bacteria in your mouth break it down to acids. I suppose if your mouth is already alkaline from the baking soda then that would help.

[fred]

In article , Chris Hogg writes

I occasionally use 3% Hydrogen Peroxide as a mouthwash to kill off deep seated anaerobic bacteria, lo and behold it reacts with sugar too to create CO2 and water so full of dual action foamy goodness. Take care if living in a rabies affected area though.

I suspect the neutralisation by saliva is actually just dilution so a sloosh with plain water may be just as good.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , J Stone escribió:

Brush your teeth at work, and try not to breathe on anyone on the bus on the way there.

[Andrew Gabriel]

"Arm & Hammer" is a manufacturer of baking soda based toothpaste, which you can find in larger stores.

I suspect the issue is how to keep it alkaline until all the sugar has been processed. Saliva will do this if you carry on eating something non-sugary (or chewing on sugar-free chewing gum). Finishing a meal with the sugary part may be a bad thing for teeth.

[Chris Hogg]

Most sugar-free chewing gums are sweetened with one of several 'polyols', such as sorbitol of mannitol. As SWMBO found out, polyols can have laxative effects, even when chewing gum in moderation.

[meow2222]

Wouldnt it be sensible to question the 'finding' first? If you remove 95% of debris & sugar, yet whats left ends up in a different place, surely you're very much ahead. What wally concluded youre better off leaving all the sugar there.

NT

[PeterC]

I hadn't seen this for sugar but did see an item re. acid from fruit. Apparently the enamel is slightly softened on the surface and if brushed immediately some can be removed. Leaving for half an hour or so allows time for the acid to be diluted/removed (weak organic acids tend to be well buffered) and the enamel hardens again. IMBT/IMNBT.

[Weatherlawyer]

Mouthwash is expensive but you don't use much and can make your own. Plain water will do to dilute sugar. Sweets are a problem as they come back to haunt you (they are the reason people drool in their sleep.)

I imagine dilute baking soda would do as a mouthwash. What do you suppose they put in it anyway?

Just something to stop it going off, I imagine. What you are actually doing is rinsing your mouth with very little water and adding bacteria to the bottle the wash comes when swigging from it.

Pure lemon juice would catch the problem at source -your belly. It's poor digestion, fatty processed foods with too much protein and sugar that causes the biggest problem.

An apple with a high carbohydrate, low sugar, low protein diet would be best. The worst?

Biscuits or chewing gum.

[polygonum]

Lemon juice attacks enamel. Apple (juice or fresh) attacks enamel.

And something I have come to realise, various disease states can be behind all sorts of tooth/mouth issues. At the very least adrenal, parathyroid and thyroid disorders can all be causative.

[The Medway Handyman]

Whats the betting the research was funded by a toothpaste/mouthwash manufacturer, who will shortly market a product to combat this problem?