#261: Avoiding Prohibitions When Brushing One's Teeth

1. We mentioned yesterday that many poskim maintain that one may not brush teeth on Shabbat, while some permit it. Even those who are strict can avoid many of the potential prohibitions. For example, one can avoid the issue of sechitah by not rinsing the toothbrush before use, and one can avoid the issue of memare’ach by using liquid toothpaste and placing it directly into one’s mouth before brushing. All opinions permit rinsing the toothbrush after use, since one does not press it against one’s teeth or any other surface at that point that would cause the water to be squeezed, nor does it violate memare’ach.

2. One can avoid the issue of bleeding by brushing softly and checking before Shabbat whether one’s teeth bleed when brushing. Finally, according to those poskim who hold that brushing teeth constitutes uvda d’chol (weekday activity), using a toothbrush designated for Shabbat would solve the issue. For more information on brushing teeth on Shabbat, see https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/735717.

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.