DR reported on August 24, 2026, that dentist Anni Rønman, vice-chair of the Danish Dental Association, recommends brushing your teeth before breakfast, and especially before drinking juice.
The advice was published by DR in response to a question that patients keep raising in the clinic. Rønman, who runs her own dental practice, told the broadcaster that both parents of children and adults ask whether brushing should come before or after the morning meal.
According to DR, Rønman stresses that the single most important thing is brushing thoroughly twice a day. If people have the energy to think about timing on top of that, she says there is a reasonably clear answer.
Rønman recommends brushing before breakfast so that bacterial deposits built up on the teeth overnight are removed. As she explains to DR, clean teeth are more resistant once oatmeal, yoghurt or bread rolls enter the mouth.
For juice drinkers, the advice is firmer. Rønman tells DR that brushing before juice is really good, because brushing straight afterward means working on enamel with a surface acid impact. At a microscopic level, she says, that enamel has been dissolved by acid.
Coffee is a different matter. Per DR, Rønman says coffee can be drunk before brushing, since it does not produce the same acid effect on the teeth. She also notes that no studies have measured the lifetime consequences of brushing after breakfast rather than before, and she does not expect a major difference as long as people brush.
Skip the rinse, the dentist says
Her final point concerns what happens after brushing. Rønman advises against rinsing the mouth with water, recommending instead that people simply spit out the foam. That leaves some fluoride toothpaste on the teeth, which she says gives the best effect.
The Danish Dental Association, where Rønman is vice-chair, is less specific in its own written guidance. Its patient advice page on toothbrushing, as of 2025, says that people with healthy teeth should brush twice daily with fluoride toothpaste. The page states this can be done either before or after breakfast, and before bedtime, without setting a preferred order.
Other Danish dental sources have reached similar conclusions to Rønman’s. The dental chain Godt Smil wrote in January 2026 that most dentists recommend brushing before breakfast, to remove overnight bacteria and apply fluoride before eating. It advises anyone who prefers to brush afterward to wait 20 to 30 minutes and rinse with water first.
The magazine Illustreret Videnskab reported in December 2024 that scientific recommendations clearly favor brushing before breakfast. It also said that people who brush after eating should wait at least 30 minutes, to avoid brushing on softened enamel.
