teeth

linguistically rather than hygienically (that's not a real word is it?) do you wash, clean or brush your teeth? Last week I mentioned I had to go and "wash" my teeth and was told it should be "brush". Last night my brother mentioned he was off to "wash" his teeth before heading to bed.
Is it incorrect, a regional variation or maybe just a family thing?

It could easily be a regionalism, but this Californian would never, ever say "wash my teeth." On a daily basis I "brush" them, and once or twice a year I go to the dentist to have them "cleaned." (Or, I might also "clean" them with a toothpick.)

Not a regionalism - it's the same (even) for a Brit.

The only way I would "wash" my teeth would be if they were dentures and I was going to scrub them in the sink or something.

I would almost always "brush" my teeth. I might go to my dentist to have him "clean my teeth."

A bit of Googling showed me a lot of "tooth washing" on Irish web sites.

My father sometimes says wash, and when we were growing up we would laugh at him for it. My mother thought he was crazy for it. Brush sounds normal to me, along with cleaning the way zashibis says.

Both of my parents are of Irish descent and from Boston (USA), where the dialect was influenced by Irish people.

I agree with the Californians here -- I brush my teeth and have them cleaned at the dentist's.

I have heard several english-as-a-second-language speakers refer to 'wash'-ing their teeth. Certainly a reflection on how other languages describe the process.

When I was younger, I often went to the dentist to have teeth 'pulled'.

"I have heard several english-as-a-second-language speakers refer to 'wash'-ing their teeth. Certainly a reflection on how other languages describe the process."

That seems to be true.
We "wash" our teeth in Polish, and also all other parts of the body when it comes to personal hygiene. It doesn't matter if you use a toothbrush or a sponge. It's all "wash".
We brush our clothes, a suit or a coat, to remove hair or dust, we also brush or comb our hair, depending on what you use.

There's one distinction though. We don't use the word "wash" when we wash our cloths. There's another word "prać" which means 'to launder'.

hygienically (that's not a real word is it?)

I don't know if it's real but it's quoted on (some) English dictionaries.

Floss and brush your teeth.

Brush.

So is OP oirish?

yesif you mean Irish.

Edited by: ambarush

In Spanish they often say, "lavar la boca", to wash the mouth. But it means to brush your teeth.

In french, "wash" is more common than "brush"

In Spanish they often say, "lavar la boca", to wash the mouth. But it means to brush your teeth.

No, it doesn't. To Brush your teeth is cepillar(se) los dientes+. Well, literally it would be +cepillar tus dientes but the posesive is rarely used in that case in Spanish.

I understand 'cepillar los dientes' is the literal translation, but I rarely hear people actually say it. More often I hear 'lavar la boca'.

Colebozbourne, your profile says you are in the US. What sort of Spanish do you encounter? Mexican? Spanglish? South American? Puerto Rican? Cuban?

Sounds like a dialect issue to me.

I understand 'cepillar los dientes' is the literal translation, but I rarely hear people actually say it. More often I hear 'lavar la boca'.

I don't have statistics about what's more used. However, cepillar(se) los dientes+ and +lavar(se) la boca+ don't have exactly the same meaning. +Cepillar(se) los dientes+ means to brush only your teeth while +lavar(se) la boca+ includes other parts of the mouth too (e.g.: the tongue, the gums...). +Lavar(se) los dientes is also used what bring us back to the brush vs. wash discussion. I don't have statistics about which one is more used in Spanish but a Google search shows more results for "cepillarse los dientes" than for "lavarse los dientes".

I brush my teeth and am lucky enough to only see a dentist every 25 years or so. Last time, they said I must have a "tartar deficiency" because there was nothing to clean.

nutraxfornerves...I live in Southern Arizona not far from the Mexico border. About 60-70% of the population in my little town are Mexicans, part of my job is being an interpreter for meetings and phone calls where I work.. I was also married to a Peruana for seven years. When she says, "voy a lavar la boca", she means that she's going to brush her teeth. "Cepillarse los dientes" just seems a bit more formal to me, I do hear it, but not as often.