I sipped my cup o’ joe (Morning Beverage), starting to feel the caffeine kick in (How Caffeine Effects), and now I got this little brown sheen keeping my pearly whites from their gleam. It must be time to brush my teeth to remove the stain and coffee breath.
Nope.
Let’s have a little coffee talk, shall we? Would you be surprised to learn that your teeth have pores? Wake up and smell the coffee! Your chompers have this cool coating of enamel that is tightly packed minerals forming a hard, protective layer. Your morning brew, or the pigments in it, can stick to the surface and become embedded in the tiny cracks and crevices. Your grill can become yellow or discolored.
While quickly grabbing the Colgate seems like a brilliant solution, the acid in the coffee is now on the surface of your gnashers. If you were to brush now, right after you sipped your brew, you could push that acid further into the pores and pockets of your teeth. No bueno.
Apparently, some experts say it takes about 30 minutes for your natural juices to break down the acid. Adding a lot of creamer and milk to your coffee reduces the acid, but it’s still there lurking. So, you have a couple of choices to try to maximize keeping your grinders gleaming: drink with a straw to minimize contact with your chicklets, rinse your mouth with water or alcohol-free mouthwash, or wait the 30 minutes before getting to the brushing.
So, bite the bullet and give those clackers the time needed to stay brilliant and bright.
If Only Extra: While coffee can do the damage, it’s not the only beverage out there making an impact on your pearly whites. Any dark-colored drinks can stain, including tea, red wine, and sodas and they may be acidic as well. Acid is acid and that enamel ain’t a fan. While we can see the stain with red wine, please note that white wine is acidic too, even if you don’t see it.