In the Loop Podcast: Should you brush your teeth before or after breakfast?

To brush before breakfast or to brush after. Photo / File

It’s an age-old debate, creating rifts across breakfast tables and inciting terse words between friends.

But is there really a right time to brush your teeth in the morning?

While many hold off on cleaning their teeth until they’ve well and truly downed their last drop of OJ, some rogue operators have fought to normalise the pre-breakfast brushing.

Now even the New York Times has weighed in, with dental experts this week giving their two cents on what morning routine is best for oral hygiene.

On today’s In the Loop podcast hosts Katie Harris and Cheree Kinnear go head-to-head in the fight over which brushing option is better.

Kinnear, who bats for the brushing-before-breakfast side, said cleaning your teeth helps remove nasty morning breath before eating your first meal, while Harris believes it’s bonkers to brush your teeth if you’re about to eat.

In support of pre-breakfast-brushing, one expert told the magazine for many people, breakfast includes sugary carbohydrates. Think cereal, bread, muffins – you get the gist, but these are foods that bacteria also love to feed on.

Another dentist spoken to by the Times said when you first wake up the bacteria levels in your mouth are at their peak, hence the morning breath.

Find out what the experts really say is best here:

Later in the show (8.47 minutes in), what was supposed to be a Republican wave in the US midterm elections has been more of a ripple after the expected massive win failed to materialise.

Then Facebook’s Meta joins Twitter with more mass layoffs (17 minutes in). The company has sacked 13 per cent of its workforce, 11,00 people, as it continues to face revenue issues.

This comes just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter and a few months after about 60 contractors were also laid off from Meta.