# swallow all the bacteria in my teeth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052 "2014-01-29T18:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/1 "2014-01-29T18:08:48Z")
“Water wakes you up. First I brush my teeth because I don’t want to swallow all the bacteria in my teeth from the night before. So I make sure that’s gone and then I drink.” This is a quote from Cameron Diaz-[http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/cameron-diaz-tells-dr-oz-she-drinks-a-litre-of-water-every-morning-to-help-her-bowel-movements/story-e6frfmq9-1226803712390](http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/cameron-diaz-tells-dr-oz-she-drinks-a-litre-of-water-every-morning-to-help-her-bowel-movements/story-e6frfmq9-1226803712390) Does this part make any sense? If we drink in the morning we are swallowing harmful bacteria? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/2 "2014-01-29T18:10:52Z")
It makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/3 "2014-01-29T18:21:46Z")
It’s essentially impossible to not swallow some of the bacteria in your mouth, and equally impossible to swallow all of them. And unless you’re getting dental cavities in your stomach, it doesn’t make any difference whether you swallow none, some, or all of them. Don’t know where she got that idea, but I agree it makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/4 "2014-01-29T18:31:54Z")
She’s apparently blissfully unaware that there are [10 times more bacterial cells than human cells in her body](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-humans-carry-more-bacterial-cells-than-human-ones/) anyway. Spitting out the relatively small number of bacteria that grew on her teeth overnight makes no appreciable difference in the numbers of bacteria she is carrying. (Most of the bacteria she swallows will be killed and digested in the stomach anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/5 "2014-01-29T19:29:55Z")
What about all the other saliva she swallows a couple times a minute, all day long? Must be bacteria free. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/6 "2014-01-29T20:41:30Z")
think of it as breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/7 "2014-01-29T20:53:06Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > What about all the other saliva she swallows a couple times a minute, all day long? Must be bacteria free. You don’t know how badly I wanted to misread saliva. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/8 "2014-01-29T20:57:24Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > think of it as breakfast. Much like a very small portion of yogurt. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/9 "2014-01-29T21:41:16Z")
We swallow bacteria all day, every day. The bacteria she’s referring to, though, aren’t harmful. They’re her own oral microfauna and, except for plaque and cavities, they’re mostly harmless. Although microfauna populations can shift, odds are that exactly the same kinds of bacteria will be reproducing overnight, every night. Some bacteria can survive in the stomach, but most can’t. Helicobacter pylori is one, and it can cause stomach ulcers. [Others have been found](http://www.livescience.com/515-bacteria-thrive-hostile-human-bellies.html), but whether they can live there, or just survive while passing through isn’t known yet. It is known that the kinds of bacteria that thrive in the mouth don’t do well in the stomach. If you swallow those bacteria, they die, die, die. What you have to look out for is bacteria in your food and bacteria and viruses on your hands. Microbes on your hands can be transferred to your eyes, nose, or mouth. If you want your mouth to feel fresh before put food in it - _shrug_. It’s not going to hurt you. If you’re trying to keep healthy, wash your hands a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/10 "2014-01-29T22:29:05Z")
As a general rule, I find that it helps to start with the near irrebuttable presumption that anything any movie star says about health or diet is completely, irredeemably wrong at every level that it is possible to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallow-all-the-bacteria-in-my-teeth/680052/11 "2014-01-29T22:36:00Z")
Indeed. The Jenny McCarthy School of Medicine for Actors really should lose its accreditation.