At The Coffee List, our experts get all kinds of quirky questions from a broad range of readers. One of the most common questions is: can you drink coffee with braces?
What do dentists have to say about consuming coffee, black tea, and other dark beverages like red wine and soda when you’re wearing braces?
Are you going to get coffee stains if you drink coffee without rinsing your mouth with water and fluoride a few minutes later?
Our coffee experts are familiar with the high costs of whitening treatments, and an unnecessary dental expense is the last thing on the minds of people who want their teeth to look perfect in the most cost-efficient ways possible.
According to data from Healthline, dental braces are one of the most popular orthodontic tools in America. Approximately 25% of the adult population wear them at some point in their lives to align their teeth straight.
Our experts will describe how certain beverages can stain your trays and teeth in this article.
We also explain whether it’s wise to drink coffee with your braces on or if you should wait until after your braces are removed.
How can you prevent your teeth and braces staining?
If you chose to drink coffee or other drinks that can stain your teeth and the brackets and bands of your braces you can prevent them from staining.
The way to prevent staining is rinse your mouth with water immediately after drinking coffee.
In fact this is what I have done for years (though I do not have braces) and dentists generally say that my teeth are in good shape. It’s fairly easy to drink water after each sip even once you get used to it.
The Good News
You can keep drinking coffee even as you wear braces, and you can prevent brownish or yellowish teeth by using high-quality whitening toothpaste. After a few months, coffee will start to leave a mark on the areas that your braces and clear aligners don’t cover, but you can brush them away in a few weeks after you remove them.
Plastic aligners like Invisalign are prone to staining, so you can remove them whenever you want to have coffee. If you have metal braces, your options are far more limited. Here are some things you can do to minimize coffee staining while wearing braces.
· Drink coffee with a straw to minimize contact between coffee tannins and your front teeth
· Limit your coffee intake to two cups per day
· Dilute your coffee with creamers or milk to reduce some of the tannins
· Avoid using sugars to reduce the acidity of your coffee
· Rinse your mouth with warm water after a coffee break
If all else fails, you can get a whitening treatment after removing your braces. This can undo the cosmetic effects of years of coffee consumption.
Can the Continuous Consumption of Coffee Change the Appearance of Your Teeth?
People who ask questions like “can you drink coffee with braces” are secretly worried about permanent teeth stains.
Many substances that you can find in vapes, cigarettes, and chewable tobaccos can cause stubborn tooth stains.
These stains may require thousands of dollars in whitening treatments to remove.
Coffee, teas, and dark wines contain tannins, which give them their deep brown and red colors.
Tannins are also present in basil, blueberries, and dried fruit snacks, and they can turn your teeth yellow.
Clothing manufacturers use concentrated tannins to dye handkerchiefs and create long-lasting prints on shirts and jackets. They can stain your pearly whites as well after a few months of continuous consumption.
Coffee is the most popular tannin-infused drink worldwide, generating over $102 billion in sales in 2020, a year.
Coffees and sodas are also heavily acidic, and they can penetrate your tooth enamel, causing discoloration. Many people are fond of drinking coffee on their smoke breaks. The toxic combination of these two behaviors can wreak havoc on your dental health even if you don’t wear braces.
Apart from staining and discoloration, this habit may also cause infections and hardened plaque to develop.
Can You Drink Coffee with Braces?
If you would like to get into the nitty-gritty of coffee, subscribe to The Coffee List newsletter below.