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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to ask if you run water while brushing teeth?

103 replies

Mxyzptlk · 15/07/2018 09:44

A suggestion from our Water Board is to save water by not running the tap while brushing teeth.

Does anyone actually do that? The running water thing?

OP posts:
KittyVonCatsworth · 15/07/2018 09:46

I don’t run the tap. I spent a bit of time in Australia though and this taught me some good habits though.

KittyVonCatsworth · 15/07/2018 09:46

A lot of *thoughs in that post 😂

BlueBug45 · 15/07/2018 09:47

That's how some people learnt to brush their teeth. I use to do it but don't anymore (and been like this for decades? as while I don't have a water meter plenty of my family and friends' do.

gamerchick · 15/07/2018 09:47

No I don't, terrible waste of water.

Raffles1981 · 15/07/2018 09:48

I used to but remember someone telling me how much water it wastes. So stopped about 20 years ago now! I hope it makes a difference.

FourFriedChickensDryWhiteToast · 15/07/2018 09:48

I was taught to brush my teeth with a running tap, but I stopped that after staying in 'dry' countries.
So no, haven't done that for years.

StrawberrySquash · 15/07/2018 09:52

It did used to be a thing that a lot of people did. I have been next to a person doing it and had the whole awkwardness of do I interfere or not?

pilates · 15/07/2018 09:55

I try not to but it’s a hard habit to break.

Twillow · 15/07/2018 09:56

As above, did it unthinkingly as it was how I learned as a child. After visiting countries where you had to use bottled water to brush your teeth, it made me realise how unnecessary and wasteful it is.

dinosaurcookie · 15/07/2018 09:58

I always turn it off, better for the environment and my bank balance.

continuallychargingmyphone · 15/07/2018 09:59

I never have run the water when brushing teeth. You shouldn’t rinse anyway and if you’re doing it properly you should be brushing for a while.

SingingMyOwnSpecialSong · 15/07/2018 10:00

No, because dentists also say you shouldn’t use water while brushing as better to leave residual toothpaste on your teeth.

PhilODox · 15/07/2018 10:02

My father spent many years in a hot dry country, so we were taught as children to always brush without running water. DH says he was taught by school not to run the tap.

rosamundhopelovesdogs123 · 15/07/2018 10:03

I turn the tap off. Big waste of water otherwise, especially as it hasn't rained for ages.

merlotmummy14 · 15/07/2018 10:08

Grew up in Australia so never did this however my partner did when I first met him and drove me nuts until I trained him otherwise.

IwantedtobeEmmaPeel · 15/07/2018 10:09

When I was young everyone left the water running, but after the 1976 drought we were shown how much water that wasted & I changed my ways and have never gone back. There is no need to run water while cleaning teeth & I am surprised people still do this, I thought everyone knew that it is a terrible waste of water whether you are on a meter or not.

BiggerBoat1 · 15/07/2018 10:09

I do. Never really thought about it to be honest. My kids do too.

DannyOD · 15/07/2018 10:10

Dh used to and it drove me nuts!!! Now we have a water meter that habit had mysteriously stopped!!

chipsandpeas · 15/07/2018 10:10

i leave the tap running but at the same time im rinsing dishes, or filling up dogs water bowl, filling up water bottles so the water isnt going to waste

Unsureneighbour · 15/07/2018 10:12

DH used to do it but I think I have finally trained it out of him. I am from an incredibly frugal/poor family and he is from a much more wasteful one so I find a lot of his habits hard

FourFriedChickensDryWhiteToast · 15/07/2018 10:13

" I do. Never really thought about it to be honest. My kids do too."

doesn't the waste bother you?

Doesn't letting fresh clean drinking water run down the drain bother you even a tiny bit, when there are children drinking dirty water worldwide?

TerfsUp · 15/07/2018 10:15

Never. I didn't know it was something that people did until just now. I cannot imagine the reason for doing so, to be hones.

knowledgeofnone · 15/07/2018 10:15

I brush my teeth in the shower whilst I'm doing my conditioner 😳

TerfsUp · 15/07/2018 10:15

Honest. Gah.

DustyMaiden · 15/07/2018 10:17

I went on holiday for the first time with DH in 1978 and noticed he left the tap running, I gave him a lecture.

Last week I heard him talking to the plumber saying I tell him to turn it off but he never remembers.

As I have now been telling him for 40 years, I give up.