[jozvolskyef]

A conversation with my friend who was a dentistry student, ~2013.

  > [The friend, let's call her L, trying to dissuade me from drinking some fizzy drink]
  > J: But I won't get a cavity if the liquid doesn't touch my teeth.
  > L: Cavities are caused by the ensuing low ph environment, not by contact with teeth
  > J: Does that mean I can drink as much of it as I want as long as I rinse my mouth with water afterwards?
  > L, with a hint of defeat in her voice: yes.

After this conversation, I started the practice of rinsing my mouth with water after eating anything sugary or associated with tooth decay, as well as using interdental toothbrushes. My rate of cavities dropped from one on most years to zero - I haven't had a cavity since. Even the one noticed by my dentist at the time and left untreated for being too small hasn't developed yet, and that was ~ten years ago.

On a sidenote, I have yet to find interdental toothbrushes whose use doesn't lead to ingesting nylon.

[jjallen]

Water also just dissolves the sugar and reduces the amount sitting in and on our teeth. I do this same thing and haven’t had a cavity in a very long time.

[hiAndrewQuinn]

Is the rinsing needed, strictly speaking? Is there something special about spitting the water out afterwards instead of e.g. swallowing it?

[brokencode]

Who said they spat it out? Rinse doesn’t necessarily imply spitting something out. You spit out mouth wash after rinsing because you can’t drink mouth wash. But sugary water is something you can drink.

[jjallen]

Yeah I don't necessarily spit it out. It's getting it off of your teeth that is the important thing.

Your stomach is already full of whatever it is you just ate. 0.1% more from whatever remains in your mouth is not going to hurt it.

[ericfrazier]

You should rinse and spit it out in the morning, don't swallow as you will be swallowing significantly more plaque from the over night build up. After initial morning cleaning swallowing should be fine.

[sethammons]

Why would swallowing the plaque be significant?

[ericfrazier]

It destroys your heart, possibly. Plaque builds up in arteries, etc. I just don't know if dietary plaque gets into the bloodstream. Don't think there are many studies. But plaque left on the teeth is known to cause heart problems and be lethal so I imagine trying to keep it out of our systems has to be better than not.

[stevesimmons]

> I have yet to find interdental toothbrushes whose use doesn't lead to ingesting nylon.

Use the interdental toothpicks made of wood.

[kaliszad]

Very bad advice, as the brushes need to have specific sizes suitable for the spaces and the bristles actually reach more spaces and remove plaque. However, someone could manufacture the brushes from natural hair, e.g. from pigs as with other kinds of brushes.

[fbdab103]

This conflicts with some advice I have previously heard, so would be interested in any hard research for or against.

I was told that if you vomit, you should not brush or rinse your mouth. You are only moving the low pH stomach acid around your mouth and exposing more teeth to the acidic environment. Instead you should try to neutralize the acid (baking powder or similar).

On one hand, I could believe you are just spreading the damage around. On the other, it feels hard to believe that some residual ~2 pH stomach acid would remain when massively diluted by a mouthful of ~7 pH tap water.

[rcoveson]

That doesn't sound like a conflict to me. People actively resist allowing vomit to touch most of their mouth. We tend to do the opposite with soda. So swishing with water after vomiting puts vomit where it otherwise wouldn't have been, while swishing with water after drinking soda only dilutes the places that soda already was.

The brushing thing has to do with the effect acid has on enamel.

I doubt you could find a dentist that wouldn't recommend swishing with water after drinking soda.

[fbdab103]

Perhaps I am an explosive vomit-er, but mid-act, I have little concern to what area of my mouth is being exposed. I would consider my entire mouth to be vomit coated. Whereas soda would be mostly concentrated to the bottom fraction of my mouth, predominantly on my tongue.

Acidic vomit or acidic soda seem like roughly the same thing. Either it should be diluted and swished or not.

[EGreg]

Yes! Rinsing your mouth REGULARLY after meals does a lot to prevent further cavities. Also a diet high in animal meat and fats (cheese, butter etc.) helps strengthen teeth https://www.healthygoods.com/blogs/news/dr-weston-prices-die...

And cutting out sugars - especially fructose - avoids diabetes. Some people who are lactose intolerant cut out lactose, and some people prone to celiac disease cut out gluten. Sometimes the simplest solutions, done consistently, are best:

https://aeon.co/essays/sugar-is-a-toxic-agent-that-creates-c...

As for toothbrushes — if you are worried about microplastics you can get this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bamboo-Toothbrush-Adult-Size-Pack/dp/...

[wiether]

> Yes! Rinsing your mouth REGULARLY after meals does a lot to prevent further cavities.

So basically drinking water?

[EGreg]

Not drinking

Rinsing your mouth, like sloshing it around to make sure it gets rid of all the gunk. Maybe flossing too.

[okdood64]

I pretty much stopped getting cavities when about 10 years ago I stopped enjoying sweet foods and drinks. (Dessert, pastries, juice, soda, etc)

Yes I understand that refined breads, such as white bread on sandwiches, will still cause tooth decay; but I found simply drastically cutting down sugary foods & drinks was enough.

[_giorgio_]

Not sure that I understood what you're saying...

You drink fizzy drinks during the day, and each time that you drink you rinse your mouth with water without brushing your teeth.

And you only brush, say, before sleep, and this has reduced your cavities to zero?

thanks

[EarthLaunch]

> I have yet to find interdental toothbrushes whose use doesn't lead to ingesting nylon.

Isn't that all toothbrushes, or are interdentals unique? (I haven't used them.)

I always assumed that toothbrushes would shed microplastics during brushing.

Also, avoid flossers, as they usually have PFAS. I use a water flosser instead.

[fnordpiglet]

The research that found this didn’t identify PFAs in any dental floss but instead found a correlation in blood levels in the (small number of) participants.

They detected fluorine in the floss and assumed that meant PFAs (Perfluoroalkoxy). This is a really bizarre leap because the floss is made of PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), which has fluorine, but is unrelated to PFAs even if you squint, despite both being fluropolymers.

PTFE is safe unless heated to over 300C, which doesn’t happen in your mouth. At one point in history the manufacturing process used PFOA, which is not an awesome chemical, but has not been used since 2013.

However it carries a reputational stigma from that time to this day. It’s otherwise chemically stable and non reactive. It’s also important to note that the study that everyone is basing these conclusions on was in the range of time that PFOA was used to produce PTFE, possibly explaining the PFOA detected in higher amounts.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0109-y

[jozvolskyef]

I mean these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Interdental-Original-0-4-1-5mm-effe... The problem is that when they encounter a sharp edge, they get torn or cut off. I doubt there has been any research on the ingestion of nylon cuttings, which is why I would prefer to find something as effective but known to be safe.

[fnordpiglet]

Yeah sorry I was referring to the dental floss comment I responded to. There’s a lingering belief that PTFE is bad for you, which had more to do with its original production method than the substance itself. Modern PTFE is safe.

[kaliszad]

You could make the bristles from pigs hair or similar as with other kinds of brushes probably. It would just be really expensive and probably isn't worth it. If you can, do use the correct interdental brushes as they are way more effective. You should consult a dental hygienist for proper sizing. Should you come to Prague, you should contact fulldent.cz as far in advance as you can and arrange an appointment.

(Disclaimer, my GF works there however I and my whole family and some friends who attend there have since then the best dental hygiene possible. They also don't mind English at all.)

[jozvolskyef]

It would apply to all to some extent, but when you make the wrong move with an interdental toothbrush it can lose a quarter of its bristles in one session.

[TedDoesntTalk]

There is floss made from silk without any PFAS. One brand is called RADIUS. Floss does a better job than water flossers.

[charliea0]

I drink a lot of acidic sodas, but I've never had a cavity as an adult.

[kaliszad]

You could be lucky but you could also just have a bad dentist who does not x-ray or the x-ray might be old and with insufficient picture quality. (Source, GF is a highly specialized dental hygienist and we talk a lot about some cases. I was even at Euro Perio with her...)

[mock-possum]

Holy shit man you used to get one new cavity a year??

[IshKebab]

> one on most years

What?! Did you never brush your teeth or something? That's an insane rate.

[kelnos]

Genetics seems to be weird when it comes to teeth.

I (foolishly) stopped seeing a dentist at all after college. I finally managed to force myself to go around 15 years later. My enamel was worn down, my teeth discolored (not terribly, but noticeably), and my gums were not in great shape, but I ended up with only two cavities that needed to be drilled and filled. After resuming regular dental visits, my teeth are fine. My general oral hygiene prior to that was ok, but not great (2x daily brushing most of the time & mouthwash, very occasional flossing).

A friend of mine does everything right: mostly avoids sugary foods, brushes after meals), mouthwash, flossing, and he goes to the dentist every 4 or 6 months for a cleaning. But he still has many dental issues to deal with, and has had quite a few cavities filled.

[darkclouds]

I've done everything the experts have said, we were too poor for sweets, but they have continued to prove themselves wrong.

Something I find interesting is the role zinc plays in the oral cavity, a sufficiently high intake see's an increase of zinc in the saliva, which in turn reduces the oral bacteria levels, zinc will appear in the enamel of the teeth, and zinc has a similar oesteoblastic effect with bones where its also stored for quick release. The effect it has on bone marrow, increasing stem cell numbers, and people will be familiar with the idea of taking zinc at the start of a cold to half the duration, I'm left wondering if zinc is deliberately ignored by medical experts for fear of being put out of work!

[lost_tourist]

I've found them to be pretty correct. I brush and floss before I got to bed and I haven't had a cavity in over 15 years. In the past few years I've switched to using hydroxyapatite toothpaste, but that's the only big change.