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How to beat staining food and drink at their own game!
Having Fixed Brace Orthodontic Treatment?
When you’re undergoing orthodontic treatment, your teeth are more vulnerable to stains from highly pigmented food and drink.
At Healthy Smile Pharmacy, we’re here to guide you through how to become a food stain dodging ninja during teeth straightening.
Why do teeth stain more in fixed braces?
let's get to the root of it
- There are more nooks and crannies for pigments to lurk, particularly in the early days when your teeth are not yet straight.
- If your oral hygiene isn’t up to scratch, tooth enamel can become more porous and those oranges, browns, blues and yellows can settle in.
- Orthodontic treatment is not a time for whitening toothpastes. Stick with your VITIS Fixed Brace Daily Care Kit as its medical grade care during this time.
How can you avoid food staining with fixed braces?
Rather than asking about teeth stain removers when we’re wearing braces, we need to be asking ...
One: Skip a bit of the rainbow and opt for light coloured foods
While we’re encouraged to eat the rainbow for our overall health, we must be a little pickier when we’re in braces. Deeply coloured natural food and drinks are deeply coloured for a reason – they have natural pigments that make them that way. Artificial food colourings also need a big dose of side-eye during this time.
Make some swaps while in treatment:
rather than asking about teeth stain removers when we're wearing fixed braces, we need to ...
- Swap darkly coloured berries and cherries for sliced and peeled apples and pears (because we all know you’ve no chance biting into them whole!). Citrus fruits are highly acidic so, while they don’t stain, they do compromise your already vulnerable teeth. White grapes and bananas? You’re good to go! Nom nom nom!
- Tomato sauces are out. Creamy sauces are in! Ban bolognaise and celebrate carbonara. It’s the same for tomato ketchup and barbecue sauces – make friends with mayonnaise instead. Don’t get caught out – remember most pizza has a tomato sauce base.
- Tea? Coffee? Their tannin will leave brown stains on teeth. If you miss these brown brews too much, go fancy with milky lattes and rinse with VITIS Orthodontic Mouthwash afterwards to minimise staining.
- Raw like sushi? The sushi fish and rice are fine, but the soy sauce isn’t. Eat sushi, of course, but sidestep the soy and decorate with a few grains of salt instead. You also get extra bougie points!
- Cola and other fizzy drinks often have ahem lurid colours that mostly belong in an art gallery. Go clear, go sugar-free and, even better, learn to love still!
- Swerve tongue painter lollies! We know they’re fun, but, in braces, they can be more than tongue painters! If you like blue and red, ask your orthodontist to switch up your elastics instead.
Use your specialist VITIS Orthodontic Mouthwash to rinse
two: keep your tools to hand
Not just for those in between brushing moments, your orthodontic mouthwash is specially formulated to keep your mouth and teeth in fixed braces tickety-boo when you’ve had a little bit of what you fancy. It helps rinse away food and drink residues that can carry those staining pigments. It will also help neutralise the acid attack that eating and drinking any foods can cause.
There’s a way to rejoin curry club ...
three: bring the elastic colours in
If your orthodontist lets you choose your elastics, opt for red, yellow or orange. That way, those foods that cause stubborn stains will blend in. You can enjoy a lasagna. Buon appetito! And you can re-join the curry club! No one will notice your elastics have turned turmeric yellow if they’re yellow to begin with. Staining foods? That’ll foil them!
But, don’t forget, while you might be able to combat visible stains on your elastics, your teeth need protecting with your three times a day fixed brace cleaning routine.
