In America, an attractive smile is a powerful tool. A bright, white smile helps people be more confident and find success at work and in relationships. People with whiter teeth are often perceived to be smarter, more socially competent, and better at relationships. While brushing and flossing every day can go a long way to maintaining a nice smile, you may be undermining yourself elsewhere.
The food you eat may be working against you when it comes to the brightness of your smile. In order to keep your teeth as white as possible, try to avoid or limit your consumption of these foods:
- Coffee: Coffee is one of the worst culprits for staining teeth. The dark color can seep inside your teeth, changing their color, and its acidity can help food you eat later damage your teeth even more. Our habit of brushing our teeth and then immediately drinking a cup of coffee (or three) when we get to work doesn’t help either.
- Acidic food: Any acidic food, including lemons, oranges, and tomatoes, can wear down the enamel on your teeth, allowing stains to form more easily. After the outer layer of enamel breaks down, the yellowish interior tissue is exposed, giving your teeth a dull, yellow look.
- Soda: In terms of our health, soda is pretty much all bad. The carbonation and the sugar can break down our enamel and put holes in our teeth. Then, the dark color of many sodas can contribute to stains. The sugar content also feeds the bacteria in your mouth, which further destroys your enamel.
- Tea: Tea hurts your teeth in a similar way that coffee does. Different varieties of tea can stain your teeth different colors. Black tea turns your teeth yellow, while white tea turns your teeth grey.
- Blueberries and blackberries: The dark juices from these berries can stain your fingers just from picking them up, so they easily stain your teeth as well. These fruits have powerful antioxidants and are very good for your health, so to keep eating them while avoiding stains, brush your teeth or swish your mouth with water immediately after consumption.
- Wine: Unsurprisingly, red wine can stain teeth, because it has many of the same qualities as tea and coffee, and is a dark color to boot. More unexpected is the fact that white wines can actually make the existing stains on your teeth darker. Wine stains tend to be grey in color, which is more difficult to remove.
In addition to these foods, any dark liquid, like soy sauce or balsamic vinegar, or food that stains your hands or lips, like beets or popsicles, is likely to stain your teeth as well.
If you’re struggling with the color of your teeth and are considering teeth whitening, look no further than Babylon Dental Care. Our dental hygiene team provides professional whitening services that will restore the whiteness of your teeth and give you back your dazzling smile. To learn more about how we can help, contact our New York offices today by calling (631) 983-6665.
