Dr Shaadi Manouchehri is a dental surgeon with a substantial social media following, and she recently took to TikTok to share her advice for when not to brush your teeth.
She’s got three clear pointers for specific times in the day when brushing your teeth may actually be doing more harm than good.
Dental practitioner on when not to brush your teeth
Dr Shaadi Manouchehri recently posted a video on TikTok saying there are three times of day you should “never ever” brush your teeth. Specifically, she discourages people from brushing their teeth immediately after eating breakfast.
She recommends waiting 30-60 minutes after breakfast before brushing your teeth. If you brush them straight away, she says, you’ll be damaging your enamel.
Dr Manouchehri has similar advice for anyone who drinks coffee. Wait 30-60 minutes, she says, to avoid brushing the natural acidity of coffee into your teeth and “wearing the tooth away”. This is especially true, she adds, if you add milk and/or sugar to your coffee.
Likewise, you should try to resist brushing your teeth for up to an hour after vomiting. Many of us know how urgent it feels to clean our teeth immediately after being sick. However, Dr Manouchehri points out brushing straight away effectively rubs the acidity of the stomach contents into the teeth even more, which may do more harm than good.
How to neutralize the acidity of stomach contents, breakfast and coffee
Dr Manouchehri’s recommendation is to wait half an hour, or up to an hour, before brushing in any of the above instances.
This will give your mouth’s natural processes time to neutralize the acidity of whatever’s been in it, and cleanse itself.
However, you can also drink water to accelerate this process. Or, she says, rinse your mouth out with mouthwash.
Although it’s worth noting that dentists’ opinions on this matter aren’t unanimous. One person commenting on Dr Manouchehri’s video says their dentist told them not to use mouthwash. If in doubt, always speak to your own dentist.
Weighing up the advice from other experts
The NHS recommends people brush their teeth for 2 minutes last thing before they go to bed, and on 1 other occasion, every day.
It offers no specific advice or clarity on when is best to brush, besides immediately before bed.
Meanwhile, Mayo Clinic advises against brushing “right after having food or drinks that contain a lot of acids”. This is more specific than Dr Manouchehri’s blanket advice on brushing no fewer than 30-60 minutes after breakfast. The truth is, it depends on what you’re having for breakfast.
We previously wrote about Dr Manouchehri’s recommendation that you brush your teeth “first thing in the morning”. Otherwise, she says, “you are actually ruining your teeth”.
Dr Shaadi Manouchehri is a dental surgeon with a BDS Honors from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. She is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and works at the London School of Facial Aesthetics.
