When Is the Best Time to Brush Your Teeth?
The best time to brush your teeth is in the morning before breakfast.
There are several reasons why:
1. Bacteria builds up while you sleep due to decreased salivary flow.
2. The levels of calcium in your saliva are lowest in the morning. Calcium in saliva helps protect your teeth from acids, and when you sleep, your saliva production is decreased. Therefore your teeth are at a much higher risk of acidic damage from bacteria and food acids in the morning than any other time. Brushing kickstarts salivary flow and the added flouride from your toothpaste will help buffer against acids.
3. It takes seconds for bacteria to metabolize sugars into acids. Clearing out the bacteria before eating food reduces their ability to soak up the sugars in your breakfast.
4. Acidic food and drink soften your enamel and make your teeth more vulnerable to toothbrush abrasion if you brush immediately after eating breakfast.
Scrubbing your teeth when your enamel has been softened up by something like orange juice, will lead to tooth abrasion and increased sensitivity of your teeth.
Source: This question originally appeared on Quora and Huffington Post