White teeth are the ultimate goal for many of us, but then life gets in the way. While you enjoy the delicacies of your life, your teeth might have to pay the bill. This is because several types of food in our diet can stain our teeth. Therefore, let’s discuss foods and drinks that can stain your teeth. In this way, you can take the necessary precautions to avoid teeth staining while enjoying your diet.
The Natural Color Of Your Teeth:
Before starting with our discussion about teeth-staining foods, let’s talk about your teeth’s natural color and get that out of the way. Your teeth naturally have a yellow tinge, and this is basically the color of the dentin underneath. Your tooth has an enamel covering the dentin. Therefore, the thicker your enamel, the less yellow will be your tooth’s color. Nevertheless, the thickness of the enamel varies naturally from individual to individual, so some have yellower teeth while others don’t. Hence, a yellow color is mostly the natural color of your tooth and not a result of staining.
Teeth-Staining Foods:
Tea And Coffee:
Our morning would be incomplete without these beverages. However, these brews have tannins that stick to your teeth staining. Hence, the stronger your morning brew is, the higher the risk of stain. Now, on the flip side, you can counter the staining effect of tannins in tea by using milk. Adding two-percent milk to your tea can significantly reduce tea’s teeth staining ability.
Soda:
Soda or cola is another quite popular drink, but it’s quite hard on your teeth. Hence, for the sake of your teeth and your health in general, try to steer clear of carbonated drinks. Acidic drinks like soda gradually eat up the enamel leaving it rough and porous. Enamel, in this case, is more susceptible to stains that dark cola has plenty of.
Sweet And Candies:
Sweets, candies, and especially chewing gums can cause mild teeth staining. Chewing gums are made so you can chew them for hours without holding them. However, this also enables pigments in chewing gum to stick to the tooth’s surface, staining them.
Wine:
Red wine can leave behind some stubborn stains. Moreover, wine is acidic, which causes enamel erosion, the effect of which we discussed earlier. Therefore, wine can leave behind some persistent stains.
Tomato-Based Sauce:
Tomato is an essential ingredient of many appetizing recipes, like pizza and spaghetti. Although delicious, this bright-colored food is a notorious stainer. The culprit here is again tannins that can stick to the teeth, staining them in the process.
Berries And Fruit Juices:
Similar to tomatoes, many other natural fruits like berries contain staining pigments. Their juices have ample of these pigments, leading to teeth staining.
Conclusion:
A majority of food causes mild staining that you can counteract by immediately brushing after your meal. However, if you want to brighten your smile more, visit Briar Forest Dental Group. Call us at 713-784-4430 to learn more about how we can help you out with your needs.