By Lee Hyo-sik
Nearly 40 percent of Koreans don’t brush their teeth after lunch, the National Institute of Health said after surveying 229,229 adults nationwide.
In particular, men paid less attention to their oral hygiene.
The survey found that 67 percent of residents in Gwangju regularly brush their teeth after lunch, showing the highest ratio among 16 large cities and provinces. About 66.2 percent of Daejeon residents said they engage in the healthy habit, followed by 63.1 percent in Seoul and 62.6 percent in Ulsan.
In Seoul, 58.6 percent of male respondents said they brush teeth when they come back to the office from lunch, lower than 67.5 percent for their female counterparts.
“People normally brush their teeth at home after eating breakfast and dinner. But many salaried workers and students don’t do so outside the house, that is, after they eat lunch,” said Lee Min-jeong, spokeswoman for the Korea Dental Association, who is also a dentist. “However, it is important to brush teeth after meals. Otherwise, food residue will accumulate between teeth and cause cavities and other dental diseases.”
Lee stressed it is crucial to make brushing teeth after meals a habit from an early age. “Parents and teachers should encourage students to clean their teeth after every meal. Also, salaried workers need to engage in the healthy habit because nobody wants to have bad breath,” the dentist said.
