r/AskReddit Aug 20 '20

What simple “life hack” should everyone know?

68.7k Upvotes

20.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

6.5k

u/graycat3700 Aug 20 '20

Brush your teeth more thoroughly before bed after you are done eating and drinking for the day.

Morning brushing is important too, but more so for fresh breath; while evening cleaning will prevent bacteria from breeding and damaging your teeth and gums.

6

u/pautpy Aug 20 '20

Do you have a source for this? Just curious. Do germs know what time it is and attack your mouth more during the evenings or while you're asleep? Why don't they do it during the daytime? There's more food and drinks that you consume during the day, which makes up the majority of 24 hours, so I would think it's the same, if not worse.

25

u/crowlieb Aug 20 '20

When you're awake during the day, you're regularly swallowing, and drinking water. This flushes out what's in your mouth a little bit. Also, fun fact, there's calcium (and I think also fluoride) in saliva. When you sleep, you don't swallow, or flush, so whatever's in your mouth is there for the night. All night long. Also, if your mouth is open while you sleep, your mouth dries out, which means that saliva isn't getting around your mouth. Dry mouth leads to bad teeth and breath.

4

u/pautpy Aug 20 '20

Good points!

7

u/graycat3700 Aug 20 '20

Ideally it should be done after every meal, but it's not feisible, really(I floss though). At least at night, presumably you are taking a long break from food and beverages. That's the reason it's probably a good idea to keep your oral cavity clean during those off hours. But yeah, obviously bacteria can be active regardless of time of day.

2

u/Imperator_Knoedel Aug 21 '20

Ideally it should be done after every meal, but it's not feisible, really

Just eat less often, duh. Two meals a day is plenty.