Why you can’t brush your teeth after coffee and how long you should wait: an expert explains

We believe that coffee served in bed is grossly overrated by many, and in fact this romantic gesture is extremely inconvenient in everyday life – in the morning you feel like running to the bathroom rather than enjoying the taste of the drink .

And yet, many of us don’t feel human until our first cup of cappuccino or espresso, and that’s where we start our day. Usually after that we go to brush our teeth – and this, according to doctors, is a big mistake.

As Vera Tang, MD, a dentist in New York, explains, coffee contains a lot of acids, and the proteins in saliva take about half an hour to break them down. If you brush your teeth immediately after coffee, you literally “shove” acid into the pores of your teeth (for us, the fact that there are pores on the enamel has also become a novelty).

For those who prefer lattes, there’s good news: “Milk lowers acid levels,” says Vera. However, she recommends rinsing your mouth with water after coffee, even for those who are two-thirds full, then waiting at least 30 minutes before brushing your teeth.

Maybe you already have a question, do the acids in coffee destroy teeth, not just when brushing, but in general? As Julie Cho, MD, a dentist in New York explains, there’s no need to worry.

“Even though you’re sipping coffee for hours, you’re constantly swallowing and closing your lips, which means your saliva is cleaning your teeth,” says Julie. In other words, the drink will only damage the enamel if you hold it in your mouth instead of drinking it.

A much more serious problem for teeth may be the sugar that many people add to coffee, according to Tang: Bacteria love sweets and actively multiply in them.

If you drink your raff immediately, the syrup won’t create any problems. However, if the glass is at hand and you take a sip every half hour, you are in fact constantly “renewing” the sugar layer on your teeth, feeding microorganisms.

So do not go with a can of soda for half a day and do not stretch a chocolate bar until the evening – it is more correct to eat sweets immediately in five to ten minutes. This is best done while eating – at these times the body produces more saliva, which acts as a buffer that protects the teeth.

Read also: Dangerous mistakes when brushing your teeth – you make them too