If you’re recently undergone
cosmetic treatment or are thinking of taking steps to transform your smile, you might be wondering what the aftercare process is like. While maintaining your cosmetic results doesn’t need to be difficult, there are a few guidelines when it comes to harmful foods and drinks that can cause staining or wear and tear on your teeth.
Read on in this blog from
Elevate Smile Design to find out what foods and drinks you should avoid after cosmetic dental work.
Why Certain Foods & Drinks Can Affect Your Cosmetic Dental Treatment
Whether you’re getting your teeth whitened, veneers, tooth-colored fillings, or porcelain crowns, you’ll need to limit your exposure to staining foods and drinks to avoid discoloration and stains. While many of these treatments involve bonding stain-resistant porcelain to your teeth, this doesn’t mean that stains can’t build up over time.
Veneers have a lifespan of about 15 years and if you are constantly smoking or otherwise introducing staining foods and drinks to your veneers, they can become discolored. This can be a big problem for costly investments like veneers because they need to be completely replaced if they become discolored.
Teeth whitening is a temporary treatment that lasts anywhere from 6 months to 3 years. To extend the results of this treatment, you should avoid staining foods and drinks as much as possible. Otherwise, it will reverse the effects you just paid for. Other foods that are too hard or crunchy can cause damage to your restorations and cause the need for early replacement.
Drinks to Avoid
Anything besides water has the potential to introduce stains to your teeth. However, the biggest culprits are tea, coffee, soda, red wine, and juice. The darker the pigment of the drink, the higher the risk of staining and discoloration.
However, even drinks that are light in color but are high in acidity cause enamel erosion which makes your teeth more susceptible to staining. Stripping your tooth enamel also risks exposing the underlying layers of your teeth which are yellower in color.
While it can be difficult to limit the consumption of your daily cup of coffee or the casual glass of wine, you can limit the contact these drinks have with your teeth by sipping through a straw.
Foods to Avoid
After getting cosmetic dental treatment, you should avoid staining foods such as berries, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, curries, and beetroot. All of these foods will cause tooth discoloration the more that you eat them.
You should also avoid hard, sticky, and crunchy foods if you have fragile restorations like veneers, dental bonding, or crowns. Foods such as nuts, candy, seeds, gum, and popcorn. These can dislodge, chip, crack, or break your restorations.
You should also avoid chewing on ice which is a common and seemingly harmless habit but can do a lot of damage to your cosmetic dental work.
How to Preserve the Results of Your Cosmetic Treatment
The best way to preserve the results of your cosmetic dental work is to limit your exposure to stains such as foods, drinks, and tobacco products. Avoid consuming hard, sticky, and crunchy foods, especially immediately after treatment. If you only have restorations on your front teeth, then make sure that you chew with your rear molars.
Don’t chew on nails, ice, inanimate objects, or use your teeth to open packages. Brush and floss your teeth regularly and attend dental cleanings every 6 months which will remove surface stains.
Schedule Your Cosmetic Dental Consultation Today!
Cosmetic dental work can drastically improve the aesthetics of your smile. With a little discretion, you can preserve the results of your cosmetic treatment for many years. If you’re interested in transforming your smile,
contact us to schedule a consultation with Dr. Jason Perlman or Dr. Karyn Mai.
