Is it good to brush your teeth with salt for a long time?

Everyone knows that brushing teeth with salt water has the effects of anti-inflammatory, whitening, preventing oral ulcers and bad breath. Although there are many benefits, brushing teeth with salt water for a long time will also have certain side effects on teeth. It is easy to wear the enamel on the surface of the teeth and cause discomfort to the teeth, especially when encountering irritating foods such as cold, sour, sweet, and hot, pain will occur. Therefore, for the sake of dental health, you can brush your teeth with salt water when you have dental problems, such as oral ulcers, inflammation, etc.

Benefits of brushing your teeth with salt water

Preventing Tooth Decay

Oral secretions, food residues, etc. can easily get stuck in these crypts and cause chronic inflammation. Brushing your teeth with salt water can chemically inhibit bacteria, physically reduce inflammation, and the fluoride contained in table salt can prevent tooth decay.

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic

Salt water has anti-inflammatory and bactericidal effects. Brushing teeth with salt water has a certain auxiliary effect on soft tissue inflammation such as gingivitis, pericoronitis, oral ulcers, and can improve oral discomfort symptoms. In particular, green salt has better effects in clearing away heat and reducing inflammation, and can relieve the pain of toothache caused by heat.

Eliminate bad breath

Light salt water can kill oral bacteria, reduce the reproduction of bacteria in the mouth, and eliminate bad breath.

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Disadvantages of brushing teeth with salt water

Destroy the oral cavity's natural defense function

After gargling with salt water, bacteria are more likely to multiply than gargling with water, because while salt water kills all the bacteria in the mouth, it also destroys the oral mucosa that plays a defensive and protective role, creating favorable conditions for the subsequent rapid recovery of bacteria .

Tooth pigmentation

If you brush your teeth with salt water for a long time, pigments and dirt will easily accumulate on the surface of your teeth, which will then cause fire and aggravate gingivitis and periodontitis.

Can cause bleeding gums

The surface of the gums is covered with a layer of soft, pink mucous membrane. Brushing your teeth with salt will cause bleeding gums due to excessive stimulation and friction of the mucous membrane.

Damage to tooth enamel, causing tooth sensitivity

Because salt is a mineral, it is a hard, angular crystal. This characteristic can be seen with the naked eye in coarse salt, and can also be seen with a microscope in fine salt. Therefore, when brushing your teeth with salt, the hard and sharp edges of the crystals will wear away the enamel on the surface of the teeth, leaving fine grooves on the tooth surface, exposing the dentin and causing the same consequences as "tooth decay": unbearable pain will occur when encountering sour, sweet, cold, hot and other stimuli.

Bad for the heart

Excessive salt intake is bad for the heart and blood pressure. People who like to eat salty food not only have a high incidence of periodontal disease, but also have a high probability of suffering from high blood pressure and heart disease. However, long-term brushing of teeth with salt water will inevitably lead to salt intake, which is equivalent to invisibly increasing the risk of heart disease.

Therefore, you should use toothpaste and tooth powder when brushing your teeth. It is best not to use salt, and don’t brush your teeth with salt every day. You can rinse your mouth with salt water appropriately.