While brushing may seem like the right direction to go in that moment, it's not good for your teeth. If you want to keep your mouth healthy despite throwing up, then you need to learn how to properly care for your teeth while being ill.
How to Protect Your Teeth While Vomiting
When you begin to vomit, your teeth get showered with acid. The second the acid touches your tooth, the erosion begins. What you want to do is go and rinse your mouth out with tap water, spitting out everything in your mouth.Then, you should go and rest for a half hour. Once you have been resting for that full half hour, you can go brush. It takes about 30 minutes for your saliva to change pH and neutralize the acids that were left in your mouth.
By ridding your mouth of the saliva too early, you are leaving the damaged parts of your teeth exposed to anything you put into your mouth. While your saliva is changing the pH to become neutral, it is also helping to restore the enamel of your teeth that the acids ate away.
No one wants to get sick, but if you do end up sick this year, make sure that you care for your teeth properly. Give them a little time before you brush, and do what you can to protect them. If you end up throwing up a lot, make sure to visit your dentist more regularly than every six months, so they can keep an eye on how much enamel you may have lost.
Please contact our office if you have any questions about your oral health.
