Morning Sickness Tips: How to Freshen Up Your Mouth Without Damaging Your Teeth

The first thing you may want to do after a bout of morning sickness is to freshen up your mouth. After all, after you've vomited, your mouth will taste and smell bad and your teeth may feel fuzzy and in need of a clean. However, you do need to be careful how you freshen up your mouth after being sick. The acids in vomit can be damaging to your teeth if you don't handle them correctly. How can you get your mouth feeling fresh and clean again without causing damage?

Don't Brush Your Teeth

Although it may seem to make sense to brush your teeth once your morning sickness has subsided, this isn't necessarily a good thing to do immediately. It may freshen up your mouth and make you feel better; however, brushing may also harm your teeth if you get your timing wrong.

Acids from your stomach will come into your mouth when you throw up and may coat your teeth and gums. If you brush your teeth straight after vomiting, the brushing action may force these acids on to your teeth enamel which may damage this coating.

To avoid this happening, it's recommended that you wait for an hour or so after a bout of morning sickness before you can safely brush your teeth. If you can't wait that long to get rid of the nasty taste in your mouth, you need to look for other ways to freshen your mouth up without causing acid damage.

Safe Ways to Clean Your Mouth After Morning Sickness

The easiest way to clean out your mouth after vomiting is to rinse your mouth out with water. This is also a useful way of washing some of the stomach acids off your teeth, preventing them from causing damage. If you find that water doesn't quite get rid of the nasty taste in your mouth, try the following alternatives:

• Rinse with a fluoridated mouthwash. This will make your mouth taste fresher; the fluoride will also help protect your teeth from acid damage. If the taste of mouthwash makes you feel nauseous, try making your own mouthwash by adding a teaspoon of baking soda to a glass of water. The baking soda will have a blander taste that may not affect you as much as a mouthwash. It will also neutralise the acids and may also kill the nasty taste in your mouth.
• Rinse your mouth with water and then put a small amount of fluoride toothpaste on your finger. Rub the toothpaste across your teeth to freshen them up without brushing. As well as making your mouth taste better, this may also reduce that unpleasant fuzzy feeling that vomiting may leave on your teeth.
• Eat a small piece of fresh ginger. Ginger helps stop feelings of nausea and also has a strong taste that may make your mouth feel better.
• Chew a piece of sugar-free gum or a sugar-free mint or fruit sweet. This will take away the taste of vomit and will also increase your saliva flow. Extra saliva may help wash the acids off your teeth. Bear in mind that this solution may not work for you if chewing or sucking makes you feel sick again or if having more saliva in your mouth brings back your morning sickness.

For more information, contact your dentist.