I always have an urge to pee after brushing my teeth. Why?

May 19, 2004 7:52 AM

After I brush my teeth, even if I have gone recently, I have a mild urge to pee. Why would this be?[lil bit more inside]

I don't think it's the running water sound/feel, as then I would have to go after each time I wash my hands (which means that I would never stop washing my hands and eventually die of dehydration from all the peeing). Type of toothpaste, method of brushing, time of day: none of these seem to matter. Seems like I've always been this way, or at least for the last ten years. Is this just me? I'm male, 30, caucasian, ex-smoker (two and a half years gone), and have no existing health conditions.

posted by PinkStainlessTail to health & fitness (11 answers total)

Conditioning? If you used to brush your teeth in the morning and before bed and made relieving yourself afterwards a part of your routine, then perhaps you became accustomed to doing it.
posted by alphanerd at 8:32 AM on May 19, 2004

(IANABP -- I am not a behavioral psychologist)

Conditioning. How hungry you feel often has little to do with the amount of food that's in your stomache -- I suspect that the same is true here. Mild urge to pee has been paired with brushing your teeth so many times it's gotten to the point that the act of brushing brings on the pee feeling ...

Let me ask you this: Do you ignore the urge or do you actually pee? If you ignore it, I bet that it will stop.
posted by TurkishGolds at 9:12 AM on May 19, 2004

This is absolutely conditioning. Thank your parents for the bedtime routine they established when you were a wee lad. And I think TurkishGolds is right — if you practice resisting the urge, it'll probably end.
posted by jdroth at 9:33 AM on May 19, 2004

Fascinating: I am Pavlov's dog. I don't particularly care about stopping the connection. I just didn't want to find out that this was an early warning sign of gum-based uric nephratiasis or something.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:49 AM on May 19, 2004

It could be conditioning, it could also be a reaction to chemicals in the toothpaste such as flouride or other chemicals. You could test this by eating toothpaste during the middle of the day or somthing.
posted by stbalbach at 9:58 AM on May 19, 2004

I've actually tried flouride-free and other non-traditional toothpastes (out of curiosity, not because of "my condition"), and they didn't change anything.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:08 AM on May 19, 2004

Tell me about your parents.
posted by Tacodog at 10:09 AM on May 19, 2004

when you were a wee lad

Heh.
posted by rushmc at 12:01 PM on May 19, 2004

As a teenager, I recall many sleepover parties where the first girl to fall asleep would get a dab of toothpaste smudged under her nose. The rest of us would sit and wait and see how long it took her to wake up and run to the bathroom to pee. It was like magic.
posted by iconomy at 4:23 PM on May 19, 2004

Ah, that is the difference between girls and boys, iconomy - if there were boys involved there, the first one to fall asleep would have his hand dipped in warm water and the rest would sit and wait for him to pee himself while still sleeping.

This sounds like a conditioning thing to me - when you were a child, I guess you did the whole "brush teeth, go to toilet, go to bed" thing and you have never grown out of it.
posted by dg at 6:05 PM on May 19, 2004

When you brush your teeth, do you lean forward over the sink or stand upright? If you lean forward, you're shifting your center of gravity and this may apply more pressure than usual to your bladder.
posted by Danelope at 9:08 PM on May 19, 2004