漱口後要用清水漱口嗎
刷牙後漱口本來是許多人的常規操作，然而，牙醫指出，不將滿口泡沫沖洗乾淨更有益牙齒健康。如果用清水或漱口水沖洗掉泡沫，那麼牙膏的防蛀作用就會大打折扣。正確做法是，將多餘牙膏和泡沫吐掉即可。
［Photo/Unsplash］
After you finish brushing your teeth， swishing around some water before spitting ensures that you rid your mouth of all that frothy toothpaste。 But as it turns out， having a little toothpaste residue left in your mouth isn’t a bad thing—in fact， it’s an important part of keeping your teeth healthy。
在你刷完牙後，你會用水漱漱口然後吐掉，這樣才不會滿嘴都是牙膏泡沫。然而，口腔中殘留一點牙膏並不是壞事——事實上，這是保持牙齒健康的一個重要部分。
This is because toothpaste contains fluoride。 “Fluoride is the single most important ingredient in toothpaste，” Dr。 Nigel Carter， dentist and CEO of the UK’s Oral Health Foundation， explained on the organization‘s website。 “It greatly helps oral health by strengthening the tooth enamel， making it more resistant to tooth decay。 It also reduces the amount of acid that the bacteria on your teeth produce。”
這是因為牙膏中含有氟化物。英國口腔健康基金會執行長、牙醫奈傑爾·卡特博士在基金會的官網上解釋道：“氟化物是牙膏中最重要的成分，沒有之一。它能透過強化牙釉質來極大地改善口腔健康，從而更有效地抵抗蛀牙。氟化物還能減少牙齒上的細菌產生的酸性物質。”
If you rinse your mouth with water immediately after a brush session， you’re also rinsing away the fluoride， which doesn’t give it much time to work its magic。 Instead， many experts recommend simply spitting out excess toothpaste。 The Oral Health Foundation even launched a campaign called “Spit， Don’t Rinse” in 2016 to encourage the habit。
如果你在刷牙後立刻用水漱口，你會將氟化物也沖洗掉，此時氟化物還未來得及發揮作用。因此，許多專家建議只要把多餘的牙膏（泡沫）吐掉即可。為了鼓勵人們養成這一習慣，口腔健康基金會甚至在2016年發起了一項名為“吐掉，別漱口”的倡議活動。
The need to completely clear your mouth after brushing can be strong， especially if you’ve rinsed with water for your entire life。 Some people rinse with mouthwash as a workaround—but that may not be such a great idea either， since toothpaste has a significantly higher concentration of fluoride than mouthwash does。 The UK’s National Health Service advises gargling with mouthwash at a different time of day， like after a meal。
如果你一直以來刷牙都用水漱口，你可能難以抵制在刷牙後徹底清潔口腔的慾望。有些人會用漱口水來作為變通之法，但是這個主意也不算太好，因為牙膏的氟化物濃度比漱口水要高得多。英國國民衛生服務系統建議，在一天的其他時間用漱口水，比如飯後。
英文來源：Mental Floss
翻譯&編輯：丹妮