It's long been known that not brushing your teeth will cause trouble with the fairer sex, but a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine has found another reason to keep your chompers sparkling. On top of yellow teeth and bad breath, not regularly brushing your teeth makes you three times more likely to experience erectile dysfunction.

Researchers at Inonu University in Turkey examined the gums of 160 men aged between 30 and 40, half with diagnosed erectile dysfunction and half without. Of the men with erectile dysfunction, 53 per cent had inflamed gums compared with 23 per cent of the control group.

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Even adjusting for other factors (age, BMI, income and education level), men with severe periodontal disease were three times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than men with healthy gums.

But is periodontitis a causal factor or just a symptom related to erectile dysfunction? According to Dr Leonard Gormella, professor and chairman of the Department of Urology at Thomas Jefferson University, more research of human inflammatory issues is needed before any conclusive links can be made.

“Since periodontal disease is considered an inflammatory disorder, it may play a role in the progression of ED,” he said.

Your move: it hasn't been conclusively proven that reaching for your toothbrush more regularly will stop you needing to reach for those little blue pills on your bedside table next time performance anxiety strikes, but whether you're worried about bad breath or stage fright, keeping those pearly whites nice and clean certainly can't hurt.