So you’ve given up red wine and coffee, but your teeth are still stained. What gives?
The culprit may be hiding elsewhere in your diet, Whitney DiFoggioa registered dental hygienist, told The Post.
“It’s not just the stuff we think about,” he said, emphasizing java, tea and vino. In fact, “anything that can stain a white t-shirt” will probably discolor your pearly whites, like red sauce or even blueberries.
“I’ve had patients come in and their language is very slurred, and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ and I’m trying to figure it out,’” DiFozio recalled.
“Just recently I had a patient who said, ‘Well, I eat blueberries like all day. I snack on them all day. I love blueberries.”
While limiting these dark-hued foods is one of the best ways to avoid stains, not everyone wants to give up their morning cup of joe or daily drink. If you must consume foods and drinks that cause stains, DiFoggio recommends rinsing with water immediately afterward.
“I always say, make sure you have a coffee with you and a water,” he said. “Every time you take a sip of coffee — if you’re really worried about stains — you should always try to rinse with water afterward.”
While whitening toothpaste can help prevent stains, DiFoggio said to put down your whitening strips at home. At-home bleach won’t do much without a professional cleaning first.
Plaque, the slimy film of bacteria that covers the teeth and is removed by brushing and flossing, is usually what gets stained. Home whitening, then, will only whiten the plaque, not the actual tooth.
“You have to remove that layer of plaque first,” noted DiFoggio, whose patients are “amazed” by how much better their teeth whiten after a trip to the dentist.
Of course, the gold standard of dental hygiene — daily brushing and flossing — will “help reduce any stains,” but there may be one more thing you’re missing: your tongue.
“I know the boring answer about flossing, but tongue scraping is also a big one,” she said, adding that 90 percent of bad breath bacteria is on the tongue.
“So I always tell people, keep your language just as clean. Reducing the levels of plaque on your tongue will reduce the levels of plaque spread throughout your mouth.”
Staining, he added, often begins between teeth where the plaque is undisturbed “because a large number of people don’t floss.”
Just going 24 hours without thread it allows this sticky biofilm to harden and become tartar, which carries the risk of gingivitis and tooth loss.
“I know it’s dramatic to say, ‘if you don’t floss you can lose your teeth,’ but technically you can,” he warned.
“The number one cause of tooth loss is gum disease, not tooth decay. Cavities usually lose one or two teeth at a time. Gum diseaseyou lose everything because the bacteria spreads.’
