# Dear Guy Who Brushes His Teeth in the Office Restroom, **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 7, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209 "2012-05-07T19:07:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/61 "2012-05-10T02:43:57Z")
As someone who is inexplicably squicked out by other people brushing their teeth (anyone else really, husband, kid included), I would rather not see it. I just avert my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/62 "2012-05-10T11:20:39Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I disagree. > > When I go to the urologist or gynecologist, the doctor shuts the door. When I go to the dentist, he does not. My dentist CAN"T shut the door. The way his office is designed there is one wide, long section which houses all the 'cleaning rooms" which are basically just the equipment (chair, etc) with shoulder-high walls on either side. So you can be a party to whoever else is being tortured that day. A few months ago, I went into have dental surgery to have my wisdom teeth removed and they needed to insert an IV. Now I KNOW I’m a difficult stick (even if I do drink enough water to sink the Titannic because that’s supposed to help you have plump veins or something) and I TOLD them it would be a bit difficult. I swear they sent in the most incompetent boob th ey could find because it took him NINE tries NINE!!!:eek: to get the IV in. All the while I was crying and trying not to curse..well..at least not in English. I said a few not nice things in Klingon and repeatedly called the guy a son of a truck driving platypus.😛 ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/63 "2012-05-10T12:29:55Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Shitting is probably the grossest, most private non-sexual thing a person does on a regular basis. This means if you are hanging out in a room made for shitting, basically anything goes. For me, it would be changing a tampon, but same principle applies. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/64 "2012-05-10T12:33:48Z")
If my co-workers can make abolition in our bathrooms, I can brush my teeth there. I do not complain and neither do they. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/65 "2012-05-10T12:48:46Z")
Like the OP, I have a slight ewww reaction to people brushing in our work bathroom. It’s the idea of doing anything with your mouth in that disgusting place. I just assume the people I see brushing are trying to get the alcohol off their breath after lunch. They really don’t need to spray water all over the countertops either, which is what I see the teeth brushers doing all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/66 "2012-05-10T14:25:40Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > If my co-workers can make abolition in our bathrooms, I can brush my teeth there. I do not complain and neither do they. Abolition? Are they Quakers? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/67 "2012-05-10T14:38:28Z")
No, Muslims; the pre-prayer ritual includes washing the feet (in the sink) and snorting water into the nostrils three times. It is all very acrobatic. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/68 "2012-05-10T15:20:55Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Abolition? Are they Quakers? Wouldn’t that be ablution? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/69 "2012-05-10T15:41:58Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Wouldn’t that be ablution? The Quakers are ablutionists? Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/70 "2012-05-10T15:47:08Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Like the OP, I have a slight ewww reaction to people brushing in our work bathroom. It’s the idea of doing anything with your mouth in that disgusting place. I breathe, and occasionally sneeze. Is that OK? > [@shiftless](#): > > I just assume the people I see brushing are trying to get the alcohol off their breath after lunch. I assumed garlic/onions and/or cigarettes, but then, I’m not the overly suspicious type. > [@shiftless](#): > > They really don’t need to spray water all over the countertops either, which is what I see the teeth brushers doing all the time. Huh. In my office - which includes plenty of tooth-brushers - it’s the hand-washers who make the most messes, by dripping on their way to the paper towel dispenser. (Which _sucks donkey balls_, ensuring more drips while you frantically claw at the wads stuck in the too-small dispenser.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/71 "2012-05-10T15:52:11Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I assumed garlic/onions and/or cigarettes, but then, I’m not the overly suspicious type. You people have heard of tooth decay, right? ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/72 "2012-05-21T18:18:47Z")
Thanks all. I’m not talking about people who do it once before a dentist’s appt, I can certainly understand that. I’m talking about people who have a regular daily habit of it. BTW side note, to those of you who said you brush 6x a day or so and that it’s clearly better than 2x or 3x… I’m not convinced you’re right. Indeed you may be doing more harm than good… it’s certainly borderline compulsive, at any rate. BACK to my original point though, I think I have a bit more insight on this… My problem with the guy choosing to brush his teeth in the public restroom isn’t so much that he’s choosing to brush his teeth in the public restroom or even that he’s choosing to brush his teeth in the public restroom. The weird part about it, I realize, is that he’s choosing to brush his teeth in the public restroom. Everything I (and 99%) of people do in a public commode is basically a necessary evil. I don’t really spend a lot more time in there than I _have to_, and were it not for the _necessity_ of evacuating, I would likely almost never go in there… maybe to try and get out the occasional stain from a shirt or something, and even that’s (basically) required activity. So, brush your teeth guy is weird because he’s **choosing to spend time hanging out in a multi-office john that he 100% doesn’t have to.** It’s another reason to be in a room where total strangers are defecating, and it’s a reason you could absolutely avoid. I could go read the newspaper in there… and it’s not gross to read the newspaper. But that’d be a gross thing to do. I won’t brush my teeth in the same room where my wife is taking a shower or doing anything else. Partially because we have 2 bathrooms but also partially because I don’t _have_ to. I can wait it out or go first or whatever. I think that might be it. I mean — if you told me a guy gets there an hour before nearly anybody else is in the building for some reason, and in that time he goes into the men’s room and brushes his teeth in (relatively) guaranteed solitude… it’s still a _little_ eww. But not as eww as “la-dee-da-scrub-scrub-scrub” at 2 in the afternoon while I’m obluting guy. Does that help? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/73 "2012-05-21T18:29:32Z")
OP, you don’t even know how to work the three sea shells. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/74 "2012-05-21T18:33:22Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Everything I (and 99%) of people do in a public commode is basically a necessary evil. I don’t really spend a lot more time in there than I _have to_, and were it not for the _necessity_ of evacuating, I would likely almost never go in there… maybe to try and get out the occasional stain from a shirt or something, and even that’s (basically) required activity. > > So, brush your teeth guy is weird because he’s **choosing to spend time hanging out in a multi-office john that he 100% doesn’t have to.** You’re a man. Presumably, you’ve never been in a woman’s rest room. Women use that place to primp, check their clothing, apply make-up, rummage in their purse, and do all sorts of things that probably could be done elsewhere without causing anyone palpitations. I use the rest room to wash my hands before eating lunch because, you know, that’s where the sink and soap are. I get that they aren’t wonderful places to take a vacation, but at least the women use them for more than just pissing and shitting. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/75 "2012-05-21T18:35:28Z")
Where would you have him brush? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/76 "2012-05-21T18:46:14Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I mean — if you told me a guy gets there an hour before nearly anybody else is in the building for some reason, and in that time he goes into the men’s room and brushes his teeth in (relatively) guaranteed solitude… it’s still a _little_ eww. But not as eww as “la-dee-da-scrub-scrub-scrub” at 2 in the afternoon while I’m obluting guy. For the frequent brusher, brushing at 7:00am is not the same as brushing at 2:00pm. He probably brushes at 7:00am also, but feels the need to brush at 2:00pm as well, then again in the evening after dinner, and once more before he goes to bed. That’s the only way I can figure some people keep their teeth preternaturally white, like the porcelain on a bedpan. Too much trouble for me, but whatever winds your clock. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/77 "2012-05-22T00:02:06Z")
Where in the seven shades of hell is someone supposed to brush their teeth at work if not in the restroom? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/78 "2012-05-22T19:28:58Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > \*\*\*Detritus \*\*\*? What … comes … off … her … dentures … that … can … clog … a … sink ? Food gets caught under dentures. Lots of food. Lots and lots and _lots_ of food can be under there. I mean, not like a full ham on rye, but still, a lot of food. When rinsed off, there can indeed be a lot of…detritus. Hey Baby Talk nitwit – wipe it with a paper towel, wouldja? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/79 "2012-05-23T04:04:40Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > I brush my teeth at work. > > EWWW for NOT brushing your teeth after you eat lunch! That better? 😉 Agreed. There is no way I would go without brushing, no matter where I am. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209/80 "2012-06-12T19:34:02Z")
Also… Standard bathroom functions are done in some degree of privacy even in an office restroom. Stalls and dividers and such. I’m not thrilled that strangers may be in there obluting at the same time, but at least I don’t have to look at them. If you (again, CHOOSE TO) brush your teeth, you’re standing in the middle of the room doing it… spitting and standing with your mouth half-open and swishing and such… I don’t want to do that in front of total strangers and I’d prefer they not do it in front of me if they don’t have to. Ich. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-in-the-office-restroom/621209.md?page=5)