Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Catholic Living in the Modern World => Topic started by: HeidtXtreme on March 23, 2025, 07:05:01 AM
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Is it wrong to receive the Eucharist if you’re unable to clean your teeth before Mass?
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No, there is no requirement to have clean teeth for Holy Communion.
Neither must one abstain from brushing one's teeth with water and toothpaste before Holy Communion. Imbiging water never breaks a fast, and toothpaste is not food. There was once a time when many (and some still do believe) held the misconception that these would break Communion fast. This just isn't so.
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No, there is no requirement to have clean teeth for Holy Communion.
Neither must one abstain from brushing one's teeth with water and toothpaste before Holy Communion. Imbiging water never breaks a fast, and toothpaste is not food. There was once a time when many (and some still do believe) held the misconception that these would break Communion fast. This just isn't so.
Father Laux makes clear in his book Mass and the Sacraments that such a situation, even if a small amount of water (or, I assume, toothpaste) is ingested, that such things are not in the nature of food.
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Father Laux makes clear in his book Mass and the Sacraments that such a situation, even if a small amount of water (or, I assume, toothpaste) is ingested, that such things are not in the nature of food.
St. Thomas uses the expression per modum cibi, "in the manner of food". If a bit of toothpaste or mouthwash goes down your throat, is that basically the same thing as sitting down and eating a meal? You did not ingest the water or toothpaste for food or nutrition.
Perhaps a simpler way to put it is whether you could properly use the very "eat". Did you eat some toothpaste? Or did you merely ingest it? Nobody would ever say that they ate toothpaste (well, except for someone who has pica or something and likes actually eating it). Did you eat a candy bar? Yes. Did you eat the mouthwash? No. That's basically the sense in which to understand per modum cibi. Now, where there might be some ambiguity would be for something like vitamins. I believe that most theologians would consider them as food if they're being taken for mere nutrition, as a nutritional supplement ... but if there's some medical need for it, say, if you don't get this particular B12 vitamin you might risk passing out, that would be consumed / ingested "in the manner of" medicine. So, the rule of thumb would be the necessity to take it during that time window. Would something bad happen to your health if you waited until after Mass to consume the vitamins? If not, then IMO it would break the fast. If so, then it would not ... since it would be medicinal.
Similarly, if a bit of food were to, say, dislodge from your teeth from an earlier meal, or a piece of skin from your mouht, and you ended up ingesting it, that would not be consider per modum cibi either, since it's not consider to be the equivalent of deliberately eating it for a meal.
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St. Thomas uses the expression per modum cibi, "in the manner of food". If a bit of toothpaste or mouthwash goes down your throat, is that basically the same thing as sitting down and eating a meal? You did not ingest the water or toothpaste for food or nutrition.
Perhaps a simpler way to put it is whether you could properly use the very "eat". Did you eat some toothpaste? Or did you merely ingest it? Nobody would ever say that they ate toothpaste (well, except for someone who has pica or something and likes actually eating it). Did you eat a candy bar? Yes. Did you eat the mouthwash? No. That's basically the sense in which to understand per modum cibi. Now, where there might be some ambiguity would be for something like vitamins. I believe that most theologians would consider them as food if they're being taken for mere nutrition, as a nutritional supplement ... but if there's some medical need for it, say, if you don't get this particular B12 vitamin you might risk passing out, that would be consumed / ingested "in the manner of" medicine. So, the rule of thumb would be the necessity to take it during that time window. Would something bad happen to your health if you waited until after Mass to consume the vitamins? If not, then IMO it would break the fast. If so, then it would not ... since it would be medicinal.
Similarly, if a bit of food were to, say, dislodge from your teeth from an earlier meal, or a piece of skin from your mouht, and you ended up ingesting it, that would not be consider per modum cibi either, since it's not consider to be the equivalent of deliberately eating it for a meal.
"In the manner of food", I think that's how Fr Laux put it, I'd have to check, my book is at my other house.
I try to make sure no food particles are in my mouth prior to reception, but as you note, if one escapes my notice and dislodges, even shortly before receiving, it is no cause for scruple, it is not per modum cibi.
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"In the manner of food", I think that's how Fr Laux put it, I'd have to check, my book is at my other house.
Very likely his translation of per modum cibi from St. Thomas.
Here's a fuller citation I found online just searching for the expression: id quod intrat in hominem per modum cibi "That which enters into a man in the manner of (= through the mode or modality of) food."
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Strangely, looking up some more St. Thomas on this matter, I found this, regarding the Eucharistic fast and his stating that the Eucharist must be the first food entering into someone's mouth any given day (the midnight fast).
... the same day; and although the beginning of the day varies according to different systems of reckoning (for some begin their day at noon, some at sunset, others at midnight, and others at sunrise), the Roman Church begins it at midnight
I've long said this, in the context that I have less problem with the "Saturday" "Vigil" Masses than many other people because the beginning of the day can be somewhere arbitrary. I actually find "sunset" to be a far more natural delimiter than something arbitrary like "midnight", which can vary from one timezone to the next, with real midnight shifting throughout the year, etc. ... and thus constituting more an average than anything else. Church has vestiges of this in the Vespers of the previous day reflecting the next day's Feast. It's said to "anticipate" the next day, but I believe it's more a throwback to when the Feast actually did beging at suntset.
Problem with the Novus Ordo, of course, is that they regularly begin these before sunset, especially in the Summer time when the sun doesn't set til very late, and then I've also seen it where the SAME PARISH will have a 4:00 PM Saturday Vigil Mass and then a 5:00 PM Sunday Mass. So, which one is it? Does your "day" last 25.5 hours? Of course, the modern "mindset" still thinks of Saturday night as ... well ... Saturday night, and so the average Vigil attendee doesn't really consider it the start of Sunday ... where they'd have no problem going to a 5:00 PM Vigil Mass and then immediately afterwards go shopping at the Mall for clothes.
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Particles of food that remain in the mouth that were injested prior to the “fasting window” for Holy Communion do not break the fast.
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:confused: “Ma, what’s for dinner?”
;) “ Crest, Listerine, and dental floss.”
:laugh1: “Yum! My favorite meal!”
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Particles of food that remain in the mouth that were injested prior to the “fasting window” for Holy Communion do not break the fast.
As a matter of piety, not obligation, I try to determine if I have any such particles, and get rid of them if I can, but I don't develop a scruple about them, if they are there, they don't break the fast.
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:confused: “Ma, what’s for dinner?”
;) “ Crest, Listerine, and dental floss.”
:laugh1: “Yum! My favorite meal!”
:laugh1: :laugh2:
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Out of common courtesy, don’t torture the priest with your bad breath. You can always wash your mouth out with water before receiving Communion. You don’t want to gross out Our Lord, either.
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DISGUSTING! Brush your stinkin’ teeth! Our Lord deserves better than that. Would you welcome him to a filthy dirty home? Clean your mouth! EEWWWwww!
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It's bad enough to have to be trapped in a small church with lots of bad morning breath, coffee breath, or evening breath after the day's meals have been eaten. Some of the worst breath comes from sugary/carb foods and nuts/nut butters getting stuck between teeth and in the pits of the tonsils.