Before you raise your glass to a healthy heart or lungs, think about what that wine mouth will do to your teeth. Wine is delicious and refreshing and promises a wide range of health benefits.
Beyond the Stains: How Wine Harms Your Teeth?
Any wine enthusiast will smile when they want a good bottle of wine. Unfortunately, the natural combination of wine’s tannin, acids, and colors often hides the reason for the smile.
Intense colors penetrate a porous surface rendered even more porous by a highly acidic substance to leave a “wine mouth,” or the red stain left on teeth after a few drinks of wine.
Wine mouth could make people feel uneasy in social settings, but its long-term repercussions and poor damage management techniques can be far more upsetting.
How to Avoid Wine Staining Your Teeth?
- Start by brushing your teeth
Brush your teeth an hour or so before you plan to taste wine. The wine shouldn’t taste any different if you practice good oral hygiene 30 to 60 minutes before drinking it. However, stains find it more challenging to attach to smooth surfaces than to plaque
Brushing your teeth right before taking that first sip isn’t advisable because it will disturb your palate. A toothpaste that promotes remineralisation is the best choice for cleaning your teeth and reducing sensitivity simultaneously.
- Avoid drinking white wine
White wine is not an innocent bystander, even though red wine is typically considered accountable for wine mouth. Red wine is less acidic than white wine, making it less harmful to oral health.
White wine’s lack of color prevents it from leaving apparent stains, but its acidity removes your enamel and makes it more porous.
When you drink white wine first, you’re essentially giving red wine’s pigments a blank canvas to paint on because the enamel is your major line of protection against stains and sensitivities.
Calcium-rich cheese is exactly what your teeth require to stop acid erosion. Therefore it’s a good thing cheese, and wine go together so well.
Cheese, especially hard cheeses, has a waxy substance that can help seal tiny gaps in your teeth that red wine’s coloring pigments can enter to cause tooth discoloration.
How to Get Rid of Teeth Stains Caused by Red Wine
- Control your impulse to use that toothbrush or teeth-whitening product
Experts recommend giving your teeth at least an hour to recuperate from the acid attack after consuming wine before cleaning them. The enamel could be irreversibly stripped if you brush too quickly.Â
The desire to bleach your teeth to find an immediate next-day remedy is equally alluring. On newly compromised teeth, teeth whitening products are as harmful.
- Consult your dentist
Going to the dentist for dental implants is always safer than attempting any DIY dental work at home. Make an appointment for a cleaning and ask them to remove any deep stains if you’re worried about them. The person who practices oral health in your life is the perfect person to ask in the worst-case scenario.
