Originally published at: Five dental myths debunked - Boing Boing
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IANA dentist, but my understanding is that the acidity in carbonated beverages comes primarily from carbonic acid - citric acid is in there in small quantities as a flavoring/preservative. I thought it was pretty widely known that carbonated beverages were bad for your teeth. If citric acid were the issue, stop eating all citrus fruit as well.
The original Instagram post says that drinking coffee through a straw WON’T prevent stains, which makes sense. Regardless, I am not sure it’s a good idea to suck back a hot beverage through a straw. Who does that?
Common sense implies that putting a cap on your toothbrush would actually promote bacteria growth by preventing the bristles from drying out between uses.
The other two myths are Flossing>Waterpik - this seems like a non-myth, unless I have missed some big debate about it, and wisdom teeth being the reason your teeth are crowded. I can see some people believing that.
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From the tone of the article we should all be judging the veracity and wisdom of our med providers on the basis of what they’re worth or their online presence? II had a dentist with a heavy YT channel who did an unwarranted extraction on me.
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Different kinds of bacteria here. The bacteria that came from your mouth may flourish on your covered toothbrush, but on the other hand, it’s mostly bacteria your mouth is already living with.
But flushing a toilet creates a spray of water containing all kinds of bacteria, including fecal coliform bacteria, and it all floats around the bathroom for a while. These aren’t the same bacteria that came from your mouth. A cover can help stop them from inoculating your toothbrush.
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I’m guessing those people are iced coffee drinkers?
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I pour two cups of coffee in the morning - one in my standard mug for drinking while I eat breakfast and read my daily comics, the other in a travel mug with a rubber tipped metal straw for on the way to work. The home cup gets an ice cube to bring it down to drinkable temperature quickly, but I leave the top off the other until I’m ready to go. This allows it to cool down to a reasonable temperature. I wasn’t sure about drinking coffee with a straw, but I find it safer than chugging out of the travel cup while driving.
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Anything wrong with leaving you toothbrush in a small container of mouthwash?
a cabinet seems the easier option if you’ve got one. i don’t like leaving my toothbrush out for that reason. ( also, close that toilet lid before flushing! )
i’ve always believed that.
it seems my mouth fits all my teeth only by virtue of the front ones overlapping in so many unusual ways. i always assumed it was my wisdom teeth jumbling them up. there seem so many of them back there.
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Exactly, same here.
Why leave them sitting out for any whatnot to land on. Including flies!
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