Whether you brush your teeth before or after breakfast is a debate that divides those with good oral hygiene across the world.
But a dentist has finally set the record straight.
Posting on TikTok, dental therapist, Anna Peterson, uploaded a video to explaining that it’s crucial to always brush before eating breakfast because doing it the other way around can damage the enamel on your teeth.
She said: “Did you know you shouldn’t brush your teeth after breakfast, always before?
“There’s two reasons for this.
“When you at breakfast your mouth becomes acidic, so what you’re doing when you brush your teeth after breakfast is brushing the acid into the tooth and this wears away the enamel.
“And, brushing before breakfast protects your teeth from anything you’re going to eat.”
Her video has since been viewed over 819,000 times and garnered over 36,000 likes.
Commenting on it, some people disregarded her advice. One person said: “I don’t fancy minty cereal…”
Someone else wrote: “Not all dentists agree on this. Some dentists say it’s fine as long as you leave 30 mins after eating/drinking.”
But others were grateful. One said: “Thanks. I always brush straight away after waking up.”
Another asked: “Why does nobody tell you this? Never ever got told anything about personal care when I was in school.”
A different user who has Invisalign braces pointed out they have to “brush after they eat” before putting their invisalign back in their mouth.
We guess the debate isn’t quite solved, then. If you want to take a look at the advice yourself, you can do so here.