Question:
The Halacha appears to be that if one found meat stuck in ones teeth/retainer after six hours, he need not wait another six hours but nevertheless it should be removed before eating milk. My question is whether he needs to spit it out of his mouth or he’s even allowed to swallow it, in which case perhaps in the event he can’t manage to take it out altogether, he would be allowed to eat Milchigs??
Answer:
Thank you for your question.
What you are writing is correct, that a person that found food between the teeth, which has been sitting in his mouth for all that time, according to the Rema (Y:D 89-1) he should remove the meet from between his teeth and then he can eat milchig. The Rema does not say that he can swallow it, and still not wait six hours. According to some poskim if the food is swallowed one will have to wait six hours, however most poskim say since such a small amount of food was in between his teeth for so long that even if it was swallowed, that he doesn’t have to wait six hours, and this seems to be the minhag. Getting back to your question, if it was eaten we will not have to wait six hours, however it can’t be there when he is actually eating milky.
Best wishes
Sources:
הפלאה (על סעי’ א’) – “ברמ”א ואם מצא אח”כ כו’ ומסירו. משמע אם בלעו צריך להמתין לדעת האומרים משום מושך טעם והעולם אינם נזהרים בזה ואפשר מסירו לאו דוקא דאין במעט חשש המשכת טעם. מיהו הא חזינן באוכל או טועם ולא חילקו חז”ל ברב או במעט”. היכל הוראה ח”ד הוראה פ”א מעדני מלכים (סי’ פ”ב) שערי יושר (ח”ג יו”ד סי’ ב’ אות ב’) שלחן הלוי (ח”א פרק כ”ב אות י’ ס”ק ב’, בדה”ש (ס”ק י”ג). זרע שמואל הע’ ס”ה
