Afaik, brushing your teeth doesn’t weaken the enamel or anything like that, or at least it shouldn’t. When brushing it’s not actually the bristles that are supposed to be doing most of the work, it’s the toothpaste which acts as polishing paste (it has tiny little micro abrasive particles or something like that). So if a dentist ever asks you what kind of toothbrush you use, soft, medium, or hard bristles, if you answer anything other than soft they’re probably going to recommend switching to soft bristles. Medium and hard bristles can damage the gums and with hard enough brushing overtime can be macro-abrasive and wear away your teeth. Better to use soft bristles and let the toothpaste do the polishing work.
The argument I’ve seen, that they seemed to be referencing, is that no matter how soft the bristles, brushing when there’s acid from our food and byproduct of the bacteria on your teeth sharing your meal, then even soft bristles can damage the enamel because the surface is temporarily weakened.
I guess that makes some sense. I think the counter argument to that may be that our teeth are constantly in a demineralization demineralization cycle anyways, so it’s better to brush after breakfast to ensure that until next you eat you’ve got no debris left for bacteria to eat and make acid and to boost remineralization.
Afaik, brushing your teeth doesn’t weaken the enamel or anything like that, or at least it shouldn’t. When brushing it’s not actually the bristles that are supposed to be doing most of the work, it’s the toothpaste which acts as polishing paste (it has tiny little micro abrasive particles or something like that). So if a dentist ever asks you what kind of toothbrush you use, soft, medium, or hard bristles, if you answer anything other than soft they’re probably going to recommend switching to soft bristles. Medium and hard bristles can damage the gums and with hard enough brushing overtime can be macro-abrasive and wear away your teeth. Better to use soft bristles and let the toothpaste do the polishing work.
Source: dentists told me so, lol
The argument I’ve seen, that they seemed to be referencing, is that no matter how soft the bristles, brushing when there’s acid from our food and byproduct of the bacteria on your teeth sharing your meal, then even soft bristles can damage the enamel because the surface is temporarily weakened.
I guess that makes some sense. I think the counter argument to that may be that our teeth are constantly in a demineralization demineralization cycle anyways, so it’s better to brush after breakfast to ensure that until next you eat you’ve got no debris left for bacteria to eat and make acid and to boost remineralization.
Yeah, that seems to be the more common take, and the one that resonates with me. But apparently it’s still largely up for debate.