5 foods that stain your teeth.
With more and more people looking to keep their smile bright and white, you already know it is important to brush and floss your teeth daily and attend the dentist for regular check-ups, but there are also certain foods and drinks you should be mindful of to help reduce staining to your pearly whites.
A good level to think of is that if you are worried about a food or drinking staining your clothes or tablecloth you can guarantee it has the capacity to stain your teeth.
The top teeth staining foods and drinks are:
- Wine
Red wine is an acidic drink that contains tannins, most commonly thought of as being in tea. This gives the drink the potential to cause a large amount of staining on your teeth. Although many people believe that white wine is less of an issue. Studies have shown that if you drink a lot of tea along with your white wine you may still experience a high level of staining. Wherever possible try to intersperse glasses of water in between the wine, not only will this help to reduce any potential hangover the following day, it will also help to reduce the level of staining of your teeth.
- Tea
Like wine, ordinary tea is rich in stain promoting tannins. Many dentists say that staining from tea can be an even bigger problem than staining from coffee as it is low in tannins. If you can’t bear the thought of giving up your morning brew why not consider switching to a herbal, green or white tea which have all been shown to have much less staining capacity.
- Fizzy Drinks
Not only do you need to be concerned with the dark coloured fizzy drinks which have the ability to stain your teeth, lighter coloured drinks are sufficiently acidic that they promote the staining of teeth by other foods and drinks that you may have at the same time. Fizzy drinks are often drunk cold and this has the effect of causing teeth to contract, making them more porous and easier to stain. In addition the phosphoric and citric acids can cause acid erosion on the teeth wearing down the tooth enamel. If you also favour regular fizzy drinks the high level of sugar can increase the risk of tooth decay. If you can’t bear the thought of giving up your fizzy drink fix why not consider drinking them through a straw. This will help to ensure that they have the least possible contact time with your teeth.
- Dark Sauces
It is not just drinks which can stain your teeth – dark sauces used to flavour foods can also have the same effect. Soy Sauce, balsamic vinegar and tomato sauces are often used sauces that can have a detrimental effect on the brightness of your smile. One way to avoid staining is to eat lettuce, spinach or broccoli at the start of your meal, these vegetables form a protective film over teeth so that foods that stain cannot seep into your teeth’s pores.
- Berries
Blueberries, Blackberries, Cranberries, Cherries and other intensely coloured fruit also have the potential to cause stains. This is true no matter what form they come in whether juices, smoothies, pies or cakes.
Many of the food and drinks which have the potential to stain our teeth and also full of antioxidants, meaning that there are health benefits to consuming them, so you may want to cut back on how often you have them rather than cut them out of your diet completely.
If you are worried about your stained teeth and would like some advice please call The Dental Studio today on 01206 845892 to book an appointment.
