Why is it wrong to brush your teeth immediately after eating?

 Dentists recommend brushing your teeth three times a day.

It is always said to brush once after every meal, but the truth is that it is not always favorable to brush your teeth as soon as you finish eating. Depending on the type of food you have eaten, it is preferable to wait 20 to 30 minutes to brush your teeth without damaging the enamel.

Our mouth has an acidity with a pH of 7, i.e., a neutral pH. When we eat in our mouth, there is a rise in acidity that softens the enamel, and later the saliva neutralizes it and hardens it again, but it takes 20 minutes. If we brush our teeth as soon as we finish eating (depending on what we have eaten), we spread the acid throughout the mouth and rub it against the teeth, so we find the tooth with softened and more sensitive enamel, damaging it in this way.

There are several theories about this, and it depends on what you eat. Patients should wait a bit and rinse their mouths with water before brushing to compensate for the pH.

For more sugary foods, waiting a few minutes before brushing your teeth after eating is even more advisable.

An excellent way to avoid this problem is to rinse your mouth with water after eating. This helps the pH normalize, so the subsequent brushing will not damage the enamel. Another way to do this is to chew gum after food intake. This produces a greater secretion of saliva which helps to regulate the pH more quickly.

Dental plaque appears every 8 hours; brushing your teeth even if you have not eaten anything is advisable.