Without question, good oral hygiene is essential for maintaining healthy teeth and a bright smile. But there’s another aspect to preventive health - paying attention to the foods and beverages that are consumed on a daily basis. Certain foods and beverages will stain your teeth, and ongoing consumption will make it more and more difficult to clean with day-to-day hygiene techniques.
Pasta sauces are inherently acidic – the tomatoes in the sauce tend to cling to teeth, and can leave teeth vulnerable to staining and discoloration. Dentists recommend eating dark green vegetables before eating a pasta dish – these foods create a protective film over teeth, therefore averting the staining power of the tomatoes.
Curry is a common spice often found in Indian food and other exotic dishes. It can easily stain your teeth, and for those who eat more than average amounts, the pigmentation in curry can yellow the teeth. Curry has a high staining factor and should be limited in a diet. Here again, it’s a good idea to eat fresh vegetables.
While balsamic vinegar is considered healthy, it can actually stain your teeth. The darkish colour tends to stick to teeth, which can quickly lead to noticeable discoloration. One recommendation is to vigorously chew the lettuce in the salad, which will help to effectively clean balsamic vinegar stains from all surrounding teeth.
Berries are a healthy food, but will stain your teeth as quickly as you eat them. The deep hues in blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries can stain your teeth whether eaten whole, in jam, or in a drink. Drinking water or milk can combat the staining effect of berries. In addition, eating hard cheese can neutralize berry acid.
By any measure, coffee, tea, wine, and sports drinks can stain your teeth – again, this is because of the acidity. Worse still, some of the beverages can also erode tooth enamel. Drinking these drinks in moderation is preferable, also because of their sugar content (sports drinks and soda pop). All of the above should be limited.
Teeth Whitening to Remove Teeth Discolouration & Teeth Stains
Today, many dental patients are choosing to have their teeth whitened. And while many choose the home kit approach, teeth whitening treatments at the dentist’s office have proven to be both safe and effective. Naturally, the finished results vary from patient to patient, but it’s not unusual to experience an improvement of three shades of white. One advantage of having the dentist do the whitening is to assess if there are underlying reasons for staining and/or discoloration.
At the Mackenzie Dental Centre, Dr. Lloyd Pedvis provides professional teeth whitening as part of an overall approach to dental health care. Contact the Mackenzie Dental Centre about teeth whitening at 905-417-8700 or fill out our contact form at https://www.mackenziedentalcentre.com/contacts. Dr. Pedvis offers a wide range of services for patients young and old – everything from regular checkups and examinations, to more involved dental treatments and procedures. At the Mackenzie Dental Centre, patients in Woodbridge, Vaughan, and Maple are always in the capable hands, in a relaxing and comfortable clinic environment.