I remember something about not brushing immediately after eating though. Here is a random article I googled. This says don’t brush after eating acidic food, not sure about the general case.
“The reason for that is that when acids are in the mouth, they weaken the enamel of the tooth, which is the outer layer of the tooth,” Rolle says. Brushing immediately after consuming something acidic can damage the enamel layer of the tooth.
Waiting about 30 minutes before brushing allows tooth enamel to remineralize and build itself back up.
WARNING: I didn’t read these papers except the conclusions
Key messages: Although the available evidence lacked robust clinical studies, tooth brushing using fluoridated products immediately after an erosive challenge does not increase the risk of ETW [Erosive Tooth Wear] and can be recommended, which is in line with recommendations for dental caries prevention. Furthermore, we suggest updating the international guidelines to promote individualized recommendations based on risk factors to prevent either ETW or dental caries.
Results: [...] Toothbrushing within 10min of acid intake was not associated with erosive tooth wear following adjustments for dietary factors (OR 1.41 [95% CI: 0.82-2.42], p=0.215]).
Conclusion: Significantly increased odds ratios were observed when acids were consumed between meals in this cohort of patients. Universal advice to delay brushing after meals may not be substantiated.
“was not associated” tells us more about the sample size than the effect, as far as I can tell, though, doesn’t it? The 0.82-2.42 CI does not seem very reassuring. Especially given this is just observational—it could well be that people who brush immediately after intake of something that’s bad for your teeth are generally conscientious about their dental health, so if they still end up with worse outcomes in this study (albeit not reaching statistical significance), then brushing quickly after acid intake could potentially be even worse than this CI (weakly) suggests.
That said, the measured odds ratios for fruit/acids between meals were so much larger that it might indeed make more sense to focus on these than on the exact timing of brushing.
Update: Brushing after eating acidic food is likely fine.
Context: 7 months ago, me in Adam Zerner’s shortform:
WARNING: I didn’t read these papers except the conclusions
Should We Wait to Brush Our Teeth? A Scoping Review Regarding Dental Caries and Erosive Tooth Wear
Key messages: Although the available evidence lacked robust clinical studies, tooth brushing using fluoridated products immediately after an erosive challenge does not increase the risk of ETW [Erosive Tooth Wear] and can be recommended, which is in line with recommendations for dental caries prevention. Furthermore, we suggest updating the international guidelines to promote individualized recommendations based on risk factors to prevent either ETW or dental caries.
Timing of dietary acid intake and erosive tooth wear: A case-control study
Results: [...] Toothbrushing within 10min of acid intake was not associated with erosive tooth wear following adjustments for dietary factors (OR 1.41 [95% CI: 0.82-2.42], p=0.215]).
Conclusion: Significantly increased odds ratios were observed when acids were consumed between meals in this cohort of patients. Universal advice to delay brushing after meals may not be substantiated.
“was not associated” tells us more about the sample size than the effect, as far as I can tell, though, doesn’t it? The 0.82-2.42 CI does not seem very reassuring. Especially given this is just observational—it could well be that people who brush immediately after intake of something that’s bad for your teeth are generally conscientious about their dental health, so if they still end up with worse outcomes in this study (albeit not reaching statistical significance), then brushing quickly after acid intake could potentially be even worse than this CI (weakly) suggests.
That said, the measured odds ratios for fruit/acids between meals were so much larger that it might indeed make more sense to focus on these than on the exact timing of brushing.
Thank you for double checking.
Overall I am still very uncertain, but lean towards it being fine. Even dentists are giving mixed signals.
Unfortunately Chinese sources but these are dentists saying you can brush immediately
https://www.facebook.com/starlitdental/posts/pfbid0SdX4RLmkxdzUYSXDRfnsbH6kpPJrFCjsKVFrJGjEprzkseKs85oYVwH4e3kii1Wrl (archive)
https://dentistry.tw/when-brushing-teeth/ (archive)
Definitely there are dentists saying you should wait too