SHR thinks this is silly. She simply puts toothpaste on the brush and goes to town.
I asked a few people over the weekend. They said that they do it SHR's way or they put water on the toothbrush first and then put the toothpaste on the brush and then they brush.
It seems that autustic kids are taught to do it in this manner as well.
So what do you do? Am I the only one who doesn't know how to brush his teeth or there is a silent majority out there waiting to be heard that will be back me up? I need to know.
26 comments:
I actually wet the brush, then put the toothpaste on, then wet it again, then brush. But I've had more cavities than I'd care to admit, so what do I know.
It goes like this:
1) Paste (though less than I used to use, thanks to planbreaker's observation that I used way too much). 2) Water. 3) Brush.
I think I'd feel like I was in prison if I didn't use a little water -- doesn't that help it foam or something? I'm doing an experiment tonight when I go to bed to find out.
Wes and I do this in opposite ways and fight about which way we will teach a future kid to do it. I put water on, then toothpaste (not much these days since it makes me gag). He puts toothpaste, then water. I hadn't thought of no water at all. That would be gag city right now.
I fill a glass with water, drop in two polident tablets, and let my teeth soak overnight. The only trouble is that I don't have dentures so I have to breathe through a snorkel and have to sleep with a wet chin.
I do it your way or maybe like noisboy too....def not like SHR....her way is LAME!
Hater Larry
it's so not lame, it's right! i used to do wet the brush and then apply paste, but the paste would then slide off.
we all need to get these:
http://www.protontoothbrush.com/
OK, I tried youthlarge's technique last night. It works, of course, but I feel that you don't get nearly the amount of foamage that I prefer. And it seems like the toothpaste does not get everywhere you want it, as if the water is acting as a lubricant to help it get into the tiny gaps between teeth. I suppose you could wet the brush first, though I have never, that I recall, knocked the toothpaste off. Maybe you need to turn the faucet on a little less.
Anyway, my findings are that a little water is necessary, though when it's applied is less important than if it's applied.
Maybe I should have written my dissertation on this.
Now, the real question: Who leaves the water running while they brush?
i'm firmly with youthlarge in the "no water" camp. how much water is really being absorbed and brought into the process? and doesn't saliva perform the same function?
i've managed to stop myself from running the water while i brush.
Don't believe a word Jamie says. This is someone who used to swallow toothpaste foam rather than spit it out and it has obviously warped his mind. Saliva does not perform the same function - presoaked toothpaste and brush already start foaming and working their scrubbing magic before the bristles even touch the teeth while saliva only breaks down the space age polymers inside of toothpaste and actually work against the cleaning function, treating the paste like food and not an industrial cleaning product.
and youthlarge, if toothpaste is sliding off of your toothbrush, that is evidence of a serious application problem that needs to be investigated.
I brush my teeth Listmaker style. I don't know why, maybe it's because if you put water on the bristles first, it makes the paste slide off. But I'm with you, man, bro, dude.
I was telling TPC that also, whenever I get out of the shower, and I start to dress, I HAVE to put socks on BEFORE I put pants on. I just have to.
These are things we need to collect and poll people about. Like whether or not your pee smells after eating asparagus. TPC says no, but I say yes!
i used to leave the water on when i was a kiddo. i have nothing more to say on this toothpaste matter. everyone except jamie is CRAZY!
asparagus = no smelly pee
listmaker puts on his socks last! he carries them around with him and usually absentmindedly leaves them somewhere (like the fridge).
i turn the water off while brushing.
have i really left my socks in the fridge? i can't recall. but it sounds right.
the fridge i made up, but you do leave socks in random places all throughout the apartment.
a regular reader too shy to comment wrote to me in an e-mail, "I too go paste then water. A player likes to get it wet first before he gets his brush on."
I'm in the SHR / Jamie camp and I find the fact that more people aren't nothing short of shocking. Wetting your brush either before or after toothpaste application is completely unnecessary. Prior to speaking w/ Listo about it on Saturday night, it honestly NEVER occurred to me that one might apply paste and THEN wet the brush. But then again, I have weird ideas about tooth-brushing in general. For instance, I avoid toothpaste with fluoride like the plague. My favorite toothpaste is called Kontrol and contains no fluoride. I believe it is produced in Alsace. I have a hard time finding it here, so I'm constantly looking for good fluoride free substitutes. Right now I use Weleda Salt toothpaste. It is sort of like brushing your teeth with sand, but the packaging matches my electric toothbrush perfectly, so I'm staying with it.
Also, when I put my pants on I have to actually grab my right foot first and use it as a handle of sorts. I have been doing this for as long as I have been wearing pants and I have absolutely no idea why.
Oh lordy, I can't stop commenting. My father and roommate both brush their teeth in the shower. What is that all about?
I brush like Listmaker. And I agree with others about the toothpaste sliding off when I wet the brush before putting on the paste. Dry brush, paste, water, delicious foamy goodness.
Tootpaste, unlike a pair of pants, does at least come with usage instructions on the packaging.
Wet brush, add paste, wet again. Brush with water off. But I also tend to use warm water when brushing and rinsing, on the theory that we wash the rest of ourselves in warm/hot water.
Asparagus makes for some rancid pee.
But the real question is: Peeing in the shower, yay or nay?
i, too, am on listmaker's side. banana, wets, then applies. it gets confusing when we prepare the other's toothbrush, but i've tried it both ways, and our way is better.
the CLC told me someone she knows likes to pee in the tub while taking a bath. ew.
Youth - I thought I told you that my older sister peeing in the tub was a SECRET!
i wet the toothbrush apply paste and then wet again. but, i have a clear memory of a dentist visiting my second grade class to teach us good oral hygiene practices, and the rule then was, absolutely no water at any point. I believe this to be my first act of conscious rebellion as i could never get behind a toothbrushing practice that didn't involve water.
my question is, how do people rinse their mouths out after? i believe in scooping water with my hand, as i think that it's the only good way to get a thourough rinse. but, i know many people, including a couple of roommates who just slurped the extra water out of their toothbrushes. i don't understand how that could give you a good rinse...
peeing in the tub while taking a bath is just flat out wrong.
Peeing in the tub when someone else in the bath however is very German. Or at least according to the internet.
At my boarding school the bath stalls had those awful 3/4 doors. A horrid trick that happened far too often was for a bastard to heft up a mop bucket full of cold water and dump it on a poor unsuspecting sod bathing below. The shock invariably made one pee in the bath but I think that qualifies as mitigating circumstances.
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