White teeth won’t last forever. It takes a good dental care routine, regular dental visits, and a bit more. If you don’t pay attention to what you are drinking, you may ruin your white teeth before you know what’s happening. Here’s what you need to know to combat it. How 8 Common Drinks May Ruin Your White Teeth (And What to Do About It).
Relax and Drink Your Tea
Tea has been touted for its calming qualities. It is an ancient drink, and it is one that some use with an almost religious fervor.
Yet this discussion starts with tea because it isn’t always a friend to your teeth. Black tea will stain teeth over time. Dentists recommend green tea or herbal tea instead. If you do drink tea, it helps to drink a glass of water afterwards. This helps rinse your teeth. Of course, regular brushing is also recommended.
If tea stains your teeth, you can try whitening strips or professional whitening. However, that won’t help much if you lose a tooth due to too much sugar in your tea. Sugar doesn’t stain your teeth like tea, but it leaves bacteria on your teeth. That bacteria is what causes plaque, which in turn causes tooth decay!
So, be cautious when drinking tea. Skip the sugar. Favor light colors over dark ones. Your teeth will thank you.
Sit up and Smell the Coffee
Coffee is very much like tea. It will also stain your teeth over time. It also is worse for your teeth if it is full of cream and sugar. Of course, there are no alternatives to coffee in the same way that there are herbal and green tea alternatives to black tea. From this, one could say that coffee is worse than tea.
Again, you can use whitening strips or go to the dentist for whitening. You definitely need regular trips to the dentist to fight the way coffee darkens your teeth. You also may try drinking water after every cup of coffee to rinse your teeth.
Use Care With Your Smoothie
Whether you drink a smoothie made by hand or one from a bottle, you should be aware of what’s in it. Hopefully there’s lots of good vitamins in it, but that’s not what we mean. Smoothies contain fruit juice. That, of course, has natural sugar. Sugar isn’t good for your teeth. So the smart thing to do after drinking a smoothie is to drink a glass of water or brush your teeth. If nothing else, rinse your teeth over the sink.
Be Aware of What’s In Your Juice
Many fruit juices are full of natural sugar. Processed juices have even more sugar. These are two reasons to be wary of how much juice you drink. Some juices, such as pomegranate and cherry, may actually stain your teeth.
Sip Your Soda
Soft drinks are terrible for teeth. They aren’t as likely to stain directly in the way that coffee and tea do. Instead, they are slowly eating away at your enamel. The sugar in soda leaves a sticky residue. Even if the soda is artificially sweetened, you still have phosphoric acid to eat away at your teeth. That’s some strong stuff. Sadly, soda leads to a missing tooth and other disasters.
Beware of Your Beer
Drinking beer is definitely a fun way to relax. However, like soda, it isn’t good for your teeth. There’s lots of acid in it to promote tooth erosion. Although it isn’t sweet, there are plenty of plaque-building bacteria in it that will stay on your teeth. If you are smart, you’ll drink a glass of water after every beer. That’s good for your teeth, and it’s hydrating after drinking alcohol.
Rewind Your Red Wine
Red wine stains teeth. It’s just a fact. If you want to reduce the staining effect, you can drink a glass of water after every glass of red wine. You can also choose to switch to white wine as much as possible. There are some health benefits to red wine, but they definitely don’t apply to your teeth.
Watch Your Alcohol Intake
Like red wine and beer, all types of alcohol are bad for your teeth. There are several reasons for this. The first is simple. Alcohol is a plaque-causing substance. Then, consider that some drinks have sugar in them as well. It’s the perfect storm for your teeth. There may not be any staining like red wine or tea, but the damage is being done.
Alcohol is bad for another reason. It dries out your mouth. This deprives your teeth of the saliva that helps wash away plaque-causing bacteria. Finally, alcohol is bad for many people because getting drunk leads to people neglecting to brush their teeth at the end of the day. It may sound silly, but it all adds up.
What’s Left to Drink?
You may be thinking by now that there’s nothing left to drink, but let’s summarize the findings. The key is to be aware of what you drink regularly and to curb overindulgence of the worst offenders.
Certain substances stain our teeth. That’s coffee, black tea, red wine and dark juices. You can favor lighter things like green tea, herbal tea, white wine, and so forth. Certain substances are simply so bad for your teeth that you shouldn’t have them. This definitely includes avoiding sodas, probably the worst on the list. Lastly, we need to recognize the danger to our teeth from things that are good for us, such as juice and smoothies.
Whenever you drink something that isn’t water, be alert to how it may harm your teeth. Then you can drink a glass of water or rinse out your mouth or brush your teeth afterwards.
Also, be alert to your dental care. This means brushing your teeth three or four times throughout the day, especially at bedtime. You should go to the dentist twice a year for cleanings. That’s going to combat both staining and teeth erosion.
If you are drinking alcoholic beverages of any kind, be aware of how much you drink. Try to stay hydrated. That water is washing your teeth. Try to remember to brush your teeth before going to bed.
Hopefully the practical advice in this article will help you maintain your pretty white teeth longer. A few changes may make all the difference.
