What Should Come First: Brushing Teeth or Morning Coffee?
Everyone has their own morning routine, but
it’s safe to assume that a great number of these routines include a
morning coffee and brushing your teeth. Or is it the other way around?
The order in which you drink your morning mug matters because it could
be harming your dental health. The acidity in coffee can erode tooth
enamel and stain your teeth. It doesn’t mean that you have to give up
your beloved morning ritual, but dentists say that it's better to brush
your teeth first if you want to protect your smile.
The benefits of brushing your teeth before
having your morning coffee
Coffee is known to stain teeth. Based on this fact alone, one could
assume that brushing your teeth right after drinking coffee is the most
efficient way to keep them clean and prevent stains. Unfortunately, this
is wrong. During the night, plaque accumulates on your teeth. This is a
problem, as plaque allows stains to form more easily. Brushing your
teeth before you have coffee removes the plaque, which makes it more
difficult for the coffee particles to grab onto your teeth and stain
them.
As we mentioned, coffee is acidic. This
means that brushing your teeth right after drinking it will weaken your
enamel, which is the outer layer of the teeth that protects them from
physical and chemical damage. By drinking coffee before brushing your
teeth, you are essentially brushing more acid onto your teeth, which
breaks down the enamel faster and makes your teeth more vulnerable to
damage and cavities. “You don’t want to be brushing when your
environment is acidic, it’s chemically abrasive,” explained Sonya
Krasilnikov, a dentist at New York City’s Dental House.
According to Krasilnikov and other dental experts, the best course of
action is to thoroughly brush your teeth first thing in the morning,
then have a cup of coffee, and finally, rinse your mouth with water to
neutralize the acidity in your mouth.
How to protect your teeth if you drank
coffee before brushing them
If you did end up having your coffee before brushing your teeth, there
are a few things you can do to minimize the damage and restore the fresh
feeling in your mouth. Firstly, dentists recommend waiting for at least
half an hour between drinking coffee and brushing your teeth. This
allows the pH level in your mouth to become less acidic and be restored
to its normal, neutral state. After 30 minutes of waiting, brushing your
teeth will be perfectly safe.
You can also use sugar-free gum to speed up
the process. Chewing stimulates the production of saliva, the agent
that helps restore the pH level in your mouth. According to Christina
Meiners, a dentist at the nonprofit CommuniCare Health Centers in San
Antonio, “Saliva acts as a buffer in that acidic environment.”
In the meantime, you can still rinse your mouth with plain water to wash
out the coffee taste and follow with flossing. This should refresh your
breath and give you that clean feeling.
Keep in mind that there’s no reason to worry if you mixed up the order
and had your coffee first one morning. One slip-up will not cause much
damage, just make sure not to turn it into a habit.