After brushing and flossing, you can use a salt rinse three to four times a week. But don't use a salt rinse more often than this - too much sodium could have negative effects on your tooth enamel, like eventual erosion⁴.
When it comes to gargling with a saltwater solution, you can rinse before or after brushing. Start by taking some water into your mouth. Then, gargle it around the back of your throat and swish it around your mouth. After 15 to 20 seconds, spit the solution out into the sink.
Rinse your mouth with tap or drinking water after your salt water gargle. Repeat the entire process two to three times a day, as needed. Remember not to swallow the salt-water.
The Mayo Clinic recommends using mouthwash after brushing and flossing your teeth. However, the National Health Service (NHS) recommends avoiding mouthwash right after brushing, since this may wash away the fluoride from your toothpaste. Instead, the NHS recommends using mouthwash at a different time of day.
The method is effective and cheaper than mouthwash in improving your oral hygiene. Salt water helps kill harmful bacteria and protects you from infections. You can also use the water to treat other oral health issues, such as toothaches, canker sores, and allergies.
Most people brush, floss and then use mouthwash. And some just brush, skipping the other two steps. As it turns out, it's actually more effective to floss, use mouthwash, then brush, according to dentists — and they don't recommend skipping any steps.
Don't rinse with water straight after toothbrushing
After brushing, spit out any excess toothpaste. Don't rinse your mouth immediately after brushing, as it'll wash away the concentrated fluoride in the remaining toothpaste.
If you want to play it safe, you should wait about 20 minutes after brushing your teeth to use an oral rinse. In a nutshell, skipping a rinse after brushing is better for your oral health because the fluoride coating on your teeth helps protect against cavities.
Swish the rinse around your mouth for ten to twelve seconds, then spit it out. Make sure you don't swallow the saltwater, as all that salt can be dehydrating and isn't healthy to ingest!
Your Albany ear, nose and throat doctor recommends a saltwater gargle two to four times a day, depending on how bad your symptoms are. You should start to feel better after 24 hours. It's important to drink lots of water so the salt doesn't cause your other cells to dry out.
Some people prefer to do a salt water cleanse first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, and then wait for 30 minutes to an hour before eating or drinking anything else. Others prefer to do it at night so that they can sleep through the cleansing process.
Gargle for a few seconds (count to five or so) and then spit out the water. It's important to do so consistently; gargle with saltwater several times a day, depending on the severity of your symptoms. You should start to feel better in about 24 hours.
Saltwater rinses are an excellent at-home treatment for inflamed or receding gums. Simply dissolve one teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water and rinse your mouth for 30 seconds. Rinse with salt water two to three times each day.
Keep using warm salt-water rinses to rinse your mouth at least 2-3 times daily for the next seven days. Begin your normal tooth brushing routine the following day. Soreness and swelling may prevent rigorous brushing of all areas, but make every effort to clean your teeth within your comfort level.
When done rinsing, spit out the salt water. Repeat the rinsing 2 to 3 times a day. Overuse of rinsing with salt water can damage the enamel and lead to more problems.
Mouthwash vs Saltwater
It ultimately boils down to what you need to use an oral rinsing solution for. Saltwater rinse is often recommended for soothing oral pain as mentioned above and it is excellent at killing bacteria because the said bacteria cannot live in salt (hence why it can be used for meat preservation).
When this happens, the harsh ingredients in your toothpaste cause the cells lining the insides of your cheeks to slough off, and as they collect in your mouth, this creates the white, slimy, stringy stuff.
You might have seen a flood of Twitter chatter sparked by a tweet reading, “Do ya'll wet the toothbrush first, or put toothpaste on first?” The response online was mixed, but our answer is pretty simple: Wetting your toothbrush is more a matter of preference and doesn't significantly change the success of brushing.
Leaving the toothpaste on your teeth overnight will allow the enamel to be fed fluoride from the paste. This fluoride will prevent the breakdown of enamel and allow the rebuilding of demineralized enamel.
Rinsing your mouth can prematurely wash out the fluoride that is working on your teeth. By spitting out toothpaste then not rinsing it out with water, the fluoride in the toothpaste will remain in the mouth and continue to be effective.
Salt can enhance overall oral health. But it can't be used as an alternative to fluoride in toothpaste. If you want to make salt a part of your daily oral care regimen, you should ensure that fluoride is also part of it. Applying common salt to your teeth will do more harm than good.
“Rinsing the mouth with water before brushing will help keep the damaging acids and sugars away from your teeth,” says Dr. Rozenberg. She recommends taking a swig of water and swishing it around for a little bit before swallowing (or spitting it out). Then, wait about a half hour before grabbing your toothbrush.
To use floss correctly, using your middle finger, wrap a length of floss, about 20 inches, and use the forefinger and thumb to move the floss. Insert the floss between two teeth and use a gentle back and forth motion from the top to the bottom of the teeth and the bottom next to the gum.