Do you rinse with water after brushing your teeth?

I was telling the children this week that my dentist told me that I should not rinse my mouth out with water after cleaning my teeth.  Instead , I should just spit out any toothpaste in my mouth after cleaning my teeth and not rinse my mouth out at all.  There would then be a very small amount of tooth paste left in my mouth that would go on protecting my teeth.

However we have read in some of our text books that you should rinse your mouth out with water.  We have also had two children visit the dentist this week, one of them said rinse and the other one said don’t rinse.

So who is correct?  What do you do? Let us know by joining in the poll below

 

Here is the reply from the British Dental Health Advisory Service:

Thank you for contacting the Dental Helpline, run by the British Dental Health Foundation.

Our recommendation is that you do not rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth. If you rinse with water after brushing your teeth, you will remove any residual fluoride that has been left behind from your toothpaste which will continue to help to protect your teeth from dental decay. If you want to rinse after brushing you can use a fluoride rinse, but check the label to make sure that it is correct for your age.

You should brush your teeth for two minutes, twice a day using a fluoride toothpaste, and spit any excess toothpaste out rather than swallowing it. The recommended fluoride levels are, up to 3 years old the toothpaste should contain at least 1000ppm fluoride, over 3 years old the toothpaste should contain between 1350-1500ppm fluoride. This amounts can be found on the ingredients label of the toothpaste.

Do not brush your teeth for 1 hour after eating or drinking anything, it takes the saliva this long to remineralise the enamel, so if you brush too soon, you could brush away any small particles of enamel that have been loosened.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further information. Should you wish to speak to a Dental Advisor, please contact us on our local rate number 0845 063 1188. We’re open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm.

Kind regards

Dental Advisor

26 thoughts on “Do you rinse with water after brushing your teeth?

  1. My mum says that if you don’t rinse your mouth after brushing your teeth then bits of food are still in your mouth.its not true!!!!!!!!

    • People people listen brush your teeth and rinse get the gunk out then put a pea sized toothpaste on and brush again voila jobs a gud un ….

  2. In y3 we were learning about teeth.Mr Haris told us a story he said about two years ago they were doing comperhenshon and in the book it said rinse your mouth with warter but people said that there dentist said that you shoulan’t rinse your mouth with warter .So they rang the dentist and the dentist said that you shouldn’t rinse your mouth with warter.

    By Lillie belle

  3. If you don’t rinse, you’re leaving toothpaste in your mouth yes, but you’re also leaving litte bits of the stuff that you’ve brushed off the teeth, which are going to settle back on the teeth, making your recent brushing useless, no?
    I also wouldn’t want to leave fluoride wandering about in my mouth either, as it can stain the teeth, is not proven to prevent tooth decay, and is a generally unnecessary poison.

  4. This is what the British Dental Health Advisory Service have said:

    Thank you for contacting the Dental Helpline, run by the British Dental Health Foundation.

    Our recommendation is that you do not rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth. If you rinse with water after brushing your teeth, you will remove any residual fluoride that has been left behind from your toothpaste which will continue to help to protect your teeth from dental decay. If you want to rinse after brushing you can use a fluoride rinse, but check the label to make sure that it is correct for your age.

    You should brush your teeth for two minutes, twice a day using a fluoride toothpaste, and spit any excess toothpaste out rather than swallowing it. The recommended fluoride levels are, up to 3 years old the toothpaste should contain at least 1000ppm fluoride, over 3 years old the toothpaste should contain between 1350-1500ppm fluoride. This amounts can be found on the ingredients label of the toothpaste.

    Do not brush your teeth for 1 hour after eating or drinking anything, it takes the saliva this long to remineralise the enamel, so if you brush too soon, you could brush away any small particles of enamel that have been loosened.

    Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further information. Should you wish to speak to a Dental Advisor, please contact us on our local rate number 0845 063 1188. We’re open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm.

    Kind regards

    Dental Advisor

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