--- title: Brushing your teeth — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Brushing your teeth», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Brushing twice a day, after breakfast and last thing before bed, clears the plaque away; the night brush matters most, because while you sleep there --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/) / Brushing your teeth # Brushing your teeth Lesson 73 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 20 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/1/) — Brushing twice a day, after breakfast and last thing before bed, clears the plaque away; the night brush matters most, because while you sleep there is less spit to wash and protect your teeth. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/2/) — Toothpaste has fluoride, which makes teeth stronger: spit the toothpaste out, but do not rinse with lots of water, so a little fluoride stays on the teeth. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/3/) — Brush gently in small circles with a soft brush for about two minutes, and do the tongue too; a toothbrush is personal and is never shared. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/4/) — A boy in Toronto, tired after a long day, still brushes for two minutes at bedtime, because he knows night is when teeth are most at risk. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/5/) — Germs and food make plaque, a sticky layer that causes holes in the teeth. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/6/) — Teeth are brushed twice a day, after breakfast and last thing before bed, for about two minutes. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/7/) — At night there is less spit in the mouth to protect the teeth, so the bedtime brush is the most important. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/8/) — After brushing you spit out the toothpaste but do not rinse straight away, so the fluoride keeps protecting the teeth. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/9/) — Teeth are brushed gently in small circles with a soft brush, because hard scrubbing hurts the gums and wears the teeth. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/10/) — Germs on the tongue cause bad breath, so the tongue is brushed gently too. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/11/) — Gums that bleed a little usually have plaque on them; gentle brushing helps them heal, and you tell a parent if it goes on. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/12/) — A toothbrush with bent, splayed bristles does not clean well and is changed about every three months. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/13/) — A toothbrush is never shared, because it can carry germs and blood from one mouth to another. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/14/) — Toothpaste is spat out, not swallowed, because too much swallowed fluoride is not good for the body. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/15/) — Acidic drinks like orange juice soften the tooth enamel for a while, so you brush before breakfast or wait about an hour after it before brushing. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/16/) — A boy in Texas hardly brushed for a year; a hole grew in a back tooth, it began to throb at night, and the dentist had to take the tooth out. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/17/) — A girl in Glasgow went to bed after sweets without brushing most nights; at her check-up she had three cavities that needed fillings, one after another. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/18/) — Tooth decay (dentists call it caries) is the most common long-lasting disease of children, and it is almost always preventable. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/19/) — A bad cavity (a hole in a tooth) can cause toothache, an infection with a swollen face, and the loss of the tooth. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/20/) — Baby teeth can get holes too; a rotten baby tooth hurts, can get infected and can harm the grown-up tooth growing under it. - ← previous: [Keeping garden wildlife safe](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/72-keeping-garden-wildlife-safe/) - next →: [Flossing and caring for your teeth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/74-flossing-and-caring-for-teeth/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)