Dr. Enrico DiVito is a general and cosmetic dentist who specializes in laser dentistry at the Arizona Center for Laser Dentistry in North Scottsdale. A graduate of Arizona State University and the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, Dr. DiVito returned to Arizona and established a private practice in 1980. He founded the Arizona Center for Laser Dentistry in 2007. In this article, he explains which foods can actually decrease the whiteness of your smile.
Many people use teeth whitening treatments to help increase the brightness of their smiles. But what they might not realize is that they could actually be eating foods and drinking certain liquids that are working against them in that process.
The most obvious of these foods and drinks are things like coffees, teas, and dark wines—and most people understand that by now. All these liquids can stain teeth if you drink too much of them on a frequent basis. Another thing that is a little less known, however, is that berries can stain your teeth as well. This is a tough pill to swallow for some people, mainly because a lot of my patients who are interested in diet and health are eating a lot of berries in an effort to stay healthy. They think berries are healthy, so they should be eating a lot of them. And that is true.
I never try to discourage patients from eating healthy foods, even if they might slightly work against them in terms of staining the teeth. I would never advocate that people stop eating foods like berries. Instead, what I do recommend is that these patients who enjoy foods like that make sure they get into the office twice a year for cleanings. In fact, they might want to come in even more frequently depending on their specific situation for addition cleanings.
Any foods that are healthy will help perpetuate a healthy lifestyle. So even if a food can stain the teeth, if it is eaten in large quantities, it is still better for a patient’s oral health than something that is bad for them—like anything that is high in high fructose corn syrup. We try to discourage patients from eating anything that has a lot of corn syrup or sugar.
Sodas are bad for the whiteness and overall health of a patient’s teeth as well. One thing that a lot of people don’t realize, however, is that diet soda is just as bad for the teeth as regular soda. I have many patients who come up to me and say, “Well I drink diet soda, so I am being healthy.” These people do not understand why they are getting cavities in their mouth, since they only drink diet soda. They believe that because diet soda does not have sugar like regular soda, they won’t get all the bad effects of sugar on their teeth. Well the truth is, it is not just sugar that is bad for your teeth. It is carbonation, too.
Carbonation of any kind is bad for the health of the teeth. Even someone who drinks excessive amounts of Perrier water—and this person probably believes they are drinking Perrier to have a healthier lifestyle—is putting their teeth at risk. Cavities can be a big result of too much carbonation in a diet. Ingesting too much carbonation in beverages over a long period of time can cause root cavities and root decay, in fact, which are not what you want to be experiencing. So it is important that people remember that carbonation is bad—just like sugar.
When patients are purely thinking about the whiteness or their smiles, they need to remember that eating healthy is always the way to go. Even if eating healthy means drinking a little more tea or eating a few more berries, just make sure to brush frequently, floss once every 24 hours, and check in with your dentist at least twice a year for cleanings. If a patient does that, then he is already ahead of the game.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
