Why Food Tastes Bad Right After Brushing Your Teeth

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was The Kitchn's founding Design and Lifestyle Editor as well as Managing Editor of Re-Nest, Apartment Therapy’s late '00s green living site. She…read more
published Mar 20, 2013
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If you’ve ever had something to eat or drink right after brushing your teeth, you know what we’re talking about. Suddenly that sweet, tangy orange juice tastes … bitter and weird. Most other foods are a little off, too. Why is that?

According to Mental Floss, it’s all the fault of sodium laureth sulfate, also known as sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). These chemicals are known as surfactants, and they’re what make items like toothpaste, shampoo, and detergents foamy and easy to swish around. But they also mess with our taste buds by making things taste less sweet and more bitter than they normally would be. Here’s how:

[Surfactants] suppress the receptors on our taste buds that perceive sweetness, inhibiting our ability to pick up the sweet notes of food and drink. And, as if that wasn’t enough, they break up the phospholipids on our tongue. These fatty molecules inhibit our receptors for bitterness and keep bitter tastes from overwhelming us, but when they’re broken down by the surfactants in toothpaste, bitter tastes get enhanced.

So to avoid that unpleasant after-brushing taste, look for an SLS-free toothpaste … or just wait about 30 minutes.

Read More: Why Does Everything Taste Bad After You Brush Your Teeth?

Related: Solving a Mystery: Why Does Greek Yogurt Have Paper on Top?

(Images: Lev Dolgachov/Shutterstock)

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