I think I can make an assumption that coffee is one of the most important parts of everyone’s day. The aroma, taste, and warmth it brings to you is unmatched, and I think that most can agree that this drink (in any form) is a necessity. I don’t want to bring up the topic, but for coffee lovers around the world this has to be a real concern: stains.
Staining is something that is inevitable when it comes to drinks, especially with coffee and wine. The drink we love so much can cause so much yellowing to our pearly whites, so we need to find ways to prevent that. With such a high intake of coffee, you have to do what you can to allow your teeth to stay healthy while enjoying the drink to the fullest. Here are 10 ways you can help prevent coffee from staining your teeth.
1. Drinking Through a Straw
There are many arguments that say drinking through a straw can cause wrinkles in the long term. Whether that’s true or not, we’re going to become wrinkled thanks to Father Time, so let’s live it up while we can. Drinking coffee through a straw can help prevent it from having direct contact with your teeth, which can then prevent straining.
This is one of the most popular ways to prevent staining and I try to do this as much as I can. When going to class or work, I’ll grab a plastic straw and put it in whatever coffee cup I have because I know I won’t be able to brush my teeth right after finishing the cup of coffee.
2. Rinse Your Mouth Out After Your Morning Coffee
This goes hand in hand with the straw tip. If you can’t get to a tooth brush, grab a bottle of water and swish! When you’re finished with that delicious cup of joe, make sure to rinse out your mouth. This is an extremely easy task that can save the face (literally) of your teeth and it will make sure you don’t have the nasty coffee breath (kinda).
3. Brush Those Teeth
The ultimate way to prevent your teeth from falling victim to those horrible stains comes from a classic—brushing your teeth! It’s something you have to do twice a day regardless of your drinking habits. Make sure when you finish your cup of coffee you grab that tooth brush to get all the staining off of your teeth before it’s permanent.
4. Always Floss
Yet another thing you should be doing at least once a day is flossing. This is a great way for stains to hide in between your teeth without you even realizing it. To prevent that from happening you need to make sure you keep up with the flossing to remove any unwanted food/drink stains from the entire day.
5. Don’t be Fooled, Adding Cream Doesn’t Help
Many assume the lighter the coffee, the less of an impact. Right? WRONG. This just creates a bigger problem for the health of your mouth as a whole. The more cream and sugar you add to your coffee, the more plaque that’s going to end up on your teeth, worsening your enamel and allowing for more stains. You have to be careful when you allow those additives into your coffee drinks, and as a lover of black coffee life is way better without them.
6. Keep Up with Your Dental Visits
Mark your calendars, because keeping up with those bi-annual dentist appointments is v important for those pesky stains. Dentists are the experts, they know how to clean your teeth properly, make sure everything is lookin’ good, and to just give you advice on oral hygiene. They’ll help you figure out what will work best for your teeth and how you can benefit from different products. This is a simple solution because they are here to help you.
7. Use a Sonicare Toothbrush
Take it from someone who has been a Sonicare user for about six years now, these things are worth every cent. I’ve always had problems with my teeth so the dentist is typically a drag, but ever since I invested in one of these babies, my life has changed. My teeth have been stronger, whiter and my gums have been healthier.
They didn’t have the cool colors back when I purchased mine but the only thing I’ve had to replace is the heads, and 6+ years is impressive. There are other brands of electric toothbrush that do similar things as the Sonicare that are just as good, but these are dentist recommended to help fight stains and promote good gum health.
8. Swish with Mouthwash
It doesn’t matter what type of mouthwash you use, but if you’ve already experienced the staining of your teeth then I would recommend something that has whitening properties in it. This will help enforce your beautiful smile after brushing and flossing (and keep that breath fresh).
9. Chug it Down, No Sipping
I’m not advocating coffee shots at all because that just seems horribly painful for your throat, but I am advocating for not dilly dallying on that cup of joe all day. To make sure the strains don’t stick, you shouldn’t be sipping on your coffee all day. Make sure you have your fix and are done. If you have another cup later in the day, it’s totally okay but don’t sip on the same cup because then the rinsing, brushing, and flossing is kind of irrelevant.
10. Invest in Over-the-Counter Whitening Products
For those who are already seeing the negative effects of stains and have not been taking the proper steps to prevent them, there are some ways to reverse the damage. Over-the-counter bleaching products can be tough on sensitive teeth, but overall will help reverse the yellowing of your shiny teeth.
There are many different products you can use to whiten your teeth and you can get them professionally whitened as well, but I wouldn’t recommend the blue light to anyone who has super sensitive teeth because damn that burns. Talk to your dentist about what they think are the safest and most affordable ways to whiten and then take it from there.
Now that I’ve given you a little inside info as to how you can prevent coffee from staining your teeth, I hope that your year will be full of bright and confident smiles! No one should feel like their teeth can’t be shown off because of their habitual latte every morning, so take the steps to prevent any future stains and do something about current staining.