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.

Use the interdental toothpicks made of wood.

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.

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.

(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.)

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

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!

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/...

So basically drinking water?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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