How often do you brush your teeth? 48% of Aussies admit to 'disgusting' habit

It'd be fair to assume most of us brush our chompers twice a day, right? That's what we were taught growing up by dentists and eagle-eyed parents who made sure we were getting our twice-daily hit of Colgate. However, morning show Sunrise has revealed a survey saying 52% of Aussies admit to brushing their teeth twice a day — so what the hell are the other 48% doing?!

To be fair, maybe the other 48% of people could be hygiene freaks who brush their teeth more than twice a day? Perhaps? Would that make it better? People in the comments have been divided on what's best so we asked an actual expert.

Dr. Minoo Ghamari, Dental Expert from Gorgeous Smiles told Yahoo Lifestyle the only way to have good oral hygiene is to brush twice a day.

“A lot of my patients brush only once a day, some only night and most only mornings! The only way to have good oral hygiene is to brush at nighttime and in the morning, so twice a day. There is a funny saying dentists use: brush at night to keep your teeth and brush in the morning to keep your friends," Dr Minoo said.

The twice, if not three times a day brushers

In the comment section on Instagram, the twice-a-day brushers proudly outed themselves. "Twice and day for me, sometimes three if I’m goinh out," one person declared.

"Twice. In the morning after breakfast and before bed time at night," another said. "Morning, after lunch and before bed, it maybe too much for some but I really do care about my gum health," another stated.

"Once a day is foul, bad breath massive turn-off," one person complained. "Twice a day for me sometimes three times, plus flossing as well especially after eating something meaty."

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Once a day brushers speak out

After one person commented calling the once-a-day brushers 'disgusting', one stepped in to defend themselves.

"Yet people like me who don’t go overboard with the teeth care have all the same teeth and only 4 minor fillings and I just turned 40," they said. "But no put us down regardless."

"Once a week," one other jokester then commented. (At least we hope it's a joke.)

Dentist says nighttime brushing is 'critical'

Dr. Minoo said nighttime brushing is critical to avoid the accumulation of bacteria in your mouth.

“Nighttime brushing is very critical. When we go to sleep our body will enter a state of relaxing , the saliva in the mouth decreases. Saliva has a lot of Immunoglobulins (defence factors) , less saliva = less defence = more cavities. So, despite many patients skipping this, nighttime brushing is the most important.

“The reason you should brush in the morning is because your mouth smells awful in the morning and you really do not want to interact with people like that, your friends will not appreciate it.

“At night you will have had accumulation and multiplying of bacteria in your mouth you do not want to leave that on your teeth or eat it with your food, so please brush in the morning and at night time.

“One last note is to advise patients to floss before you brush that way you remove the food and toothpaste can flow in between your teeth to clean.”

So there you have it you once-a-day-brushers — it's time to up your game!

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