Is it true that you should brush your teeth before breakfast to avoid swallowing bacteria?

There is a popular opinion that it is better to brush your teeth immediately after waking up, so that the microbes that have accumulated during the night do not enter the stomach with food. We decided to check if this is true.

Information that bacteria from the oral cavity may get in the stomach along with breakfast and harm your health, you can meet on websites many dental clinics, on medical resources And portals O style life. Users discuss whether they should brush their teeth in the morning before eating on various forums and in services questions And answers.

In a person's mouth lives about 700 species of different microbes. Not all of them are harmful: some help digest food or inhibit the growth of their pathogenic counterparts. Others can cause tooth decay and gum disease. Saliva, which also contains “good” bacteria, helps curb the growth of bacteria in the mouth. During sleep the process of salivation slows down, therefore the highest concentration bacteria in a person's mouth occurs immediately after waking up. Some of them really hits into our gastrointestinal tract (GIT) along with breakfast. 

However, this happens in the same way when swallowing saliva, and if breakfast can be postponed until “after brushing your teeth,” then the process of salivation (and, accordingly, swallowing and entry of saliva into the gastrointestinal tract) cannot be controlled. Normal per day in the human mouth stands out about 750 ml of saliva. Just 1 ml contains about 100 million bacterial cells, most of which enter our stomach when swallowed. At the same time, our body has a “built-in” protection in the form of gastric juice, which contains acid in a concentration sufficient to kill ingested pathogens and limit bacterial growth in the stomach.

Ingestion is not the only possible way for oral bacteria to travel to other internal organs. For example, through wounds in the gums they can end up in bloodstream, and with it spread throughout the body. During respiration, bacteria can become lungs and cause bacterial pneumonia. So brushing your teeth - neither after breakfast nor before - does not in any way guarantee complete protection against the spread of oral pathogens to other organs.

“Verified” could not find a single authoritative scientific study that would prove that the time of brushing your teeth in the morning - before or after meals - somehow affects the likelihood of oral bacteria entering our gastrointestinal tract and causing harm to health. At the same time, experts notethat the influence of oral bacteria on the health of other internal organs has not yet been sufficiently studied.

In general, dentists recommend brushing your teeth after breakfast. For example, something like this opinions experts from the UK National Health Service (NHS) adhere to. With them agree and experts from the Australian Department of Health. Experts from other reputable dental associations do not give precise recommendations on when it is better to brush your teeth - after breakfast or before. Thus, the British Oral Health Foundation advises do this before bed and “at least once during the day.” Experts from the Canadian Dental Association claimthat ideally you should brush your teeth after every meal or at least twice a day - before bed and during the day. “Verified” did not find a single authoritative medical organization that would recommend brushing your teeth before breakfast. 

However, the same NHS experts recommend brush your teeth no earlier than 30 minutes after consuming "sour» food (that is, food whose pH is below 4.6), so as not to injure the enamel, already weakened by acids, with a toothbrush. To such food include, for example, fruit juices, jams and even eggs - quite popular breakfast ingredients. U coffee The pH is slightly higher than this, and yet some nutritionists also classify it as an “acidic” drink. American Dental Association Specialists advise Wait at least an hour after eating. Therefore, if you do not have time for such a long break between breakfast and brushing your teeth, it is better to brush them immediately after waking up.

Also, brushing your teeth for a while stimulates salivation (research showed different duration this effect lasts from 5 to 60 minutes). This, in turn, can help with the digestion of breakfast food and protect your mouth from bacterial growth, so there are some benefits to choosing this brushing time.

Thus, not a single authoritative medical or specifically dental organization recommends brushing your teeth before breakfast, and some, on the contrary, even advise doing it after eating. “Verified” has not been able to find a single serious scientific study that would confirm that the time of brushing your teeth in the morning has any effect on the occurrence of health problems caused by the ingestion of oral microbes. In addition, the human body normally has mechanisms to protect against them - gastric acid kills pathogens. However, there are some benefits to brushing your teeth before breakfast, but they have nothing to do with the hypothetical ingestion of bacteria.

Cover photo: Greta Hoffman

Most likely not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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