Here you are again at the bathroom sink. You’ve lathered up your teeth with fluoride toothpaste, using the proper brushing technique — 30 seconds per quadrant, all the way to the gumline. You’re a brushing pro, in fact. But then, when you’re done, you suddenly meet the great dental dilemma: To rinse or not to rinse?
Of course, this isn’t an entirely realistic situation. There’s no dental dilemma, right? Almost everyone rinses with water after they brush. You have to get that toothpaste sludge out of your mouth and clear away those germs. But you might be surprised to know that most oral health experts recommend against it.
The reasoning here is pretty simple. The fluoride in your toothpaste coats and protects your teeth from the acid damage caused by the bacteria and sugars in your mouth; it even reverses early tooth decay. But while fluoride is bacteria-resistant, it’s not waterresistant, and studies show that when you swish that post-brush water around in your mouth, it can wash away that helpful coating, causing your teeth to lose out on those fluoride benefits. In this way, a thorough water rinse can actually increase your risk of cavities.
“Wait,” you might protest, “I’m just supposed to deal with that uncomfortable film? That overwhelmingly minty taste and the gross toothpaste slurry in my mouth?”
One option for those who are particularly offended by not rinsing after brushing is to wash out the mouth with a fluoride rinse instead of water. Pay attention to the bottle, though — many commercial mouthwashes don’t actually contain any fluoride and thus would have the same negative effect as water. You can also simply use less water — the smaller the amount, the better. Using less water should fix that post-brush feeling and still leave your teeth protected.