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If you are one among those people who care a little too much about their oral hygiene, here is a warning for you.

A recent study has revealed that those who brush their teeth more than recommended number of times are at a risk of damaging them. Especially, brushing the teeth after a rich meal is particularly damaging, says the study.

Your teeth could suffer damage if brushed within half an hour of having a cup of coffee or eating a meal.

The explanation for the claims are as follows.

When a person consumes fizzy or acidic drinks, the acid burns into the enamel of the teeth - and the layer below the enamel, called 'dentin'. If brushing the teeth is done immediately after consuming food, it can push the acid and make it settle further down, speeding up the corrosion and making it faster than the normal corrosion rate.

'With brushing, you could actually push the acid deeper into the enamel and the dentin,' said Dr Howard R. Gamble, president of the Academy of General Dentistry in an interview with the New York Times.

So basically, brushing within half an hour of consuming an acidic soft drink strips the teeth and demineralizes them.

The study was conducted with the help of volunteers who were given different brushing regimes. The results showed a noticeable corrosion in the teeth brushed soon after a meal or an acidic drink. However, waiting for an hour seems enough to avoid corrosion, the report says.

"However, after intra-oral periods of 30 and 60 min, wear was not significantly higher than in unbrushed controls. It is concluded that for protection of dentin surfaces at least 30 min should elapse before toothbrushing after an erosive attack,' say researchers according to Mail Online.