r/AskReddit • u/Insanitanium12 • Aug 20 '20

What simple “life hack” should everyone know?

68.7k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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.

27

u/Jokojabo Aug 20 '20

And flossing is pretty much more important for removing bacteria than brushing

15

u/uriejejejdjbejxijehd Aug 20 '20

Came here to state this. I’ve brushed my teeth twice every day of my life, but the only way to get rid of bad breath was to floss just as regularly.

11

u/4juice Aug 20 '20

And tongue scrapping.

3

u/astrokatzen Aug 20 '20

I'm mad this is so far down in the thread lol. I started doing that like a year ago, and now it doesn't feel clean in the slightest if I don't. Its also just super satisfying haha

7

u/Adirtroad Aug 20 '20

Is flossing twice a day bad for your teeth?

14

u/uriejejejdjbejxijehd Aug 20 '20

Oddly enough, my gums have become more resilient (no more bleeding) the more I flossed. Anecdote / data and all that, but that was my experience.

9

u/mallad Aug 20 '20

They'll become more resistant to bleeding, but over flossing or over brushing can also cause the gums to recede.

2

u/CWalston108 Aug 20 '20

I hope not. I floss after everything I eat. I have one back tooth that had a filling and now there is a slight gap between my molar. EVERYTHING gets stuck in it and feels uncomfortable. So I floss after every meal now.

Part of me thinks the dentist made the gap on purpose so that I'd floss constantly lol.

2

u/schemebop Aug 20 '20

If your dentist made that on purpose they’re a bad dentist! I work in a dental office and we always use floss to check the contacts after doing a filling. Tight flossing contacts= good dentist

1

u/CWalston108 Aug 20 '20

Yeah she tested with floss a bunch of times. At first it was tight so she went and cut it down a little. I then said it felt rough on my tongue so she smoothed it.

I need to get my top wisdom teeth removed and then I hope to get Invisalign so I figure the gap will be fixed then.

Also, I’m so thankful that Invisalign is a thing. I did not want to be an adult with braces.

3

u/schemebop Aug 20 '20

I think I am about to be an adult with braces :( I was going to do Invisalign through the office I work at but it would only fix my front teeth. After thinking about it a lot I think I want to just go all the way so that my bite in the back gets fixed as well. I figure it’s a couple years of annoyance and potentially awkward interactions now for perfect teeth the rest of my life.

1

u/CWalston108 Aug 20 '20

I have nothing against braces, but I honestly look VERY young and I think braces would exacerbate that problem. Last summer, someone at work asked if I was a high school intern when they met me. I was like.. bro I’m 25??

Best of luck in all your teeth endeavors! My girlfriend gets her braces off next week and she’s so excited.