Why Orange Juice Tastes Awful After Brushing Your Teeth

Every morning, you awaken and drink a morning glass of water, grab your favorite bread for some French toast, and stare at that carton of orange juice in your fridge. You're craving a tall glass of sweet, citrus-y deliciousness ... but you just brushed your teeth. You know that the one-two punch of toothpaste and OJ is going to taste absolutely wretched, even if you've bought the best store-bought orange juice. Why is that?

The nasty taste in your mouth can be blamed on sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a toothpaste additive that helps remove plaque and food debris from your teeth and creates that satisfying foaminess when you brush. While SLS is super effective at maintaining the sparkle on your pearly whites, it causes a few chemical changes inside your mouth. For one, it reacts with your taste buds and suppresses the ones that pick up the flavor of sweetness. This means that, for a little while after you brush your teeth, you can't taste anything sweet at all. 

Secondly, SLS breaks up phospholipids on the membrane of your tongue. These compounds reduce the impact of bitter substances. What does this mean for you? Well, when you sip your orange juice, which is composed of both sweet and bitter notes, the sweetness is muted and you get an extra-strong dose of just the bitterness. There are toothpastes on the market without SLS, but most of these are "natural" varieties that also don't contain fluoride, which is critical for staving off tooth decay.

As the proud owner of a mouth and a tongue, you've undoubtedly realized that these parts of your body have more eccentricities than just experiencing OJ tasting like soap. For example, have you ever noticed that a copper fork makes your food taste more bitter? Likewise, the temperature of food affects its flavor — a cold beer may taste more refreshing than a warm one, since the cold temperature dulls taste receptors on the tongue that would make bitter flavors more pronounced if the brewski were warmer. Speaking of alcohol, drinking a glass of wine with dinner may numb your taste buds, making your food taste blander overall. And, in terms of flavors that are definitely not bland, the burn of spicy foods isn't being sensed by your taste buds, but, rather, pain receptors on the inside of your mouth. That eyewatering hot sauce is actually hurting your mouth ... it's not all in your head!

Next time you accidentally take a swig of orange juice after brushing your teeth and recoil at the awful flavor, try to remember that the unpleasant sensation is just good ol' science at work. Perhaps try brushing your teeth after breakfast, instead of before. Keep in mind, however, that the acids in fruit make your tooth enamel temporarily softer, which means that it's a bad idea to brush right away. If you don't have time to wait at least an hour, swish your mouth thoroughly with some water.