Can You Drink Coffee With Braces? (We Ask The Experts)
Can you drink coffee with braces? Let’s find out. If you have or have had braces, you will undoubtedly relate to the terror and disgust when your braces get stained, and if you have not gotten them stained before, you must have been horrified whenever you feel tempted by food that can stain your braces.
Your daily caffeine fix is inevitable, but that stain certainly isn’t. Coffee and other heavily staining foods can leak their pigments onto the material of the plastic bands, which results in staining.
However, as a certified coffee lover, you find yourself stuck in a dilemma between the love of coffee and the health of your braces. For the sake of the smile-loving coffee enthusiast, we tackle the big question of smiles and caffeine: can you drink coffee with braces?
What other food and drinks must be avoided, or how can I prevent staining my braces while still drinking coffee? In this article, we tackle the essential questions in the smallest amount of words possible.
Can You Drink Coffee With Braces?
Braces can come in different types to serve different purposes and different markets from each other. One of its most known types is what is known as the “clear” brace, sometimes called a ceramic brace.
What makes the clear brace different from most metal braces is that instead of using the traditional metal, they use tooth-colored, clear, ceramic brackets to blend themselves in better.
So why exactly are we talking about clear ceramic braces? On the get-go, it is essential to know that ceramic braces are stain-resistant (well, the ceramic brackets are, anyway).
However, the clear elastic bands used to attach the archwire to the brackets aren’t necessarily the most stain-resistant material in the world, far from it. That is why staining your braces with coffee is an effortless task.
Can you drink coffee with braces? Well, with clear braces, this might be a more suitable option. However, we would want to establish this through, and through that, we do not recommend doing this as the risk of staining your braces is still high.
Other alternative brace options can enable you to drink coffee in a carefree manner. Invisalign is an orthodontic treatment that works in the same way as braces; in fact, some people refer to Invisalign as a type of brace, despite it looking way different from your traditional ceramic or metal braces. With Invisalign, you can take them off before eating and drinking.
However, this does not mean that Invisalign is stain-proof. It is recommended never to drink hot beverages, ergo most coffee options, with Invisalign on your teeth. The thing is, it might be safe to drink hot coffee by removing the Invisalign from your teeth, but with them on, it is a whole different story.
Stain-ger Danger! Other Foods and Beverages You Might Need To Be Wary About
At this point, we can all agree on the fact that coffee is not the best beverage to drink with braces. Despite that, we also need to remember that coffee is not the only beverage that poses a risk of staining your braces. Some other foods and drinks might need to come into mind whenever you have your braces on.
For example, coffee’s leafy, British (or Chinese, depending on how you look at it) relative, tea is not the best alternative to getting your caffeine fix while having braces on. At some point, you might have thought of replacing your coffee-shaped hole in your heart with tea, but you might be shocked to find out that tea is just as bad of a staining culprit as coffee is.
Its pigments are certainly something you might need to be wary of when choosing a beverage.
Other beverages you might need to be extra wary of are red wine and soda. There are many ways to mitigate the staining from these beverages (and will be touched on later), but it may be best to stay abstinent. You may stain the bands and brackets (if you wear metal braces) of your braces from carelessly consuming these beverages.
Can you drink coffee with braces? Yes, you can. However, drinking red wine, soda, and other foods tinted with food coloring are highly unrecommended.
Mitigating The Risk: Keeping The Braces Stain-Free
Okay, let us be realistic right here. Just because coffee stains your braces does not mean you can give it up, even with those braces staying on your teeth. Coffee lovers have caffeine running through their veins, you know!
Well, that is the exact reason why we added this section in the article! We asked ourselves: “How can I keep drinking coffee while making sure that it doesn’t stain or stain as much?” The good news is that one thing you can count on when it comes to us is that we do more than ask questions. We answer them too.
1. Just Minimize The Drinking of Staining Beverages
Some people might think of things in a very black and white manner. Either you drink coffee, or you don’t. However, we can take the middle ground on this; you can drink coffee, but not as much as before.
This mentality can also apply to other beverages. Instead of drinking soda once a day or red wine twice a week, maybe try consuming them once a week for a change. It can significantly reduce the risk of staining by at least 50 percent, and it’s much healthier as well!
2. Brush After Every Meal
It is a “common-sense tip” from us: brush after every meal. If you have followed your dentist’s orders well (especially that twice a year checkup appointment), you would realize that brushing your teeth three times a day, with or without braces, can significantly decrease the risk of staining your teeth. It promotes healthy dental hygiene as well.
When you allow food and beverages (especially those with food colorings) to stick to your teeth and braces for too long, they can become a breeding ground for bacteria. What’s worse is that this can result in bad breath, decayed teeth, and an increased risk of stained braces.
3. Floss Up and Rinse It With Mouthwash
Brushing by itself is a great practice, especially for dental health, but by flossing and mouth washing, you reduce the risk of getting food and beverages stuck in your teeth and braces.
Flossing enables you to remove stuck food particles, while mouth washing allows you to kill viable bacteria living in the nooks and crannies of your mouth, tongue, gums, and braces. These two, combined with brushing, make you a teeth champ, and indeed your braces will thank you for this.
4. Keeping It Up With The Dentist
It is undoubtedly tough to always keep your dentist appointments, especially if one leads a hectic life. However, it is imperative to remember that health comes first and foremost. By keeping up with your dentist appointments, you can not only reduce the risk of bacterial infection and tooth decay, but you can also reduce the risk of staining your braces!
By regularly changing ligatures (the rubber band surrounding your braces’ brackets), you can reduce the staining ability of even the most heavily colored food. Dentists are no slackers, mind you. They can help you remove stains by giving you heavy-duty cleaning that is more thorough than your usual brushing, flossing, and mouthwash combo.
5. Make Use of Straws
A reasonable effort you can make to help reduce staining is to use straws whenever drinking sodas, coffee, or tea. Since straws deliver the beverage directly to your mouth and make it not pass by the teeth, it significantly lowers the staining risk.
Nevertheless, we never stand by plastic pollution. At our company, we fully support using metal straws to reduce the use of single-use plastic material. We want to build a greener future, and we certainly want YOU to be a part of it too. #SaveTheTurtles
All The Relevant Questions When It Comes to Coffee and Your Braces
How often should I brush my teeth in a day to decrease the risk of staining my teeth?
While some people like to put a specific number for brushing, we recommend brushing after every meal. However, you need to at least brush three times a day.
Are mouthwash and flossing alone enough?
No! Mouthwash and flossing are not enough and are not nearly as competent as tooth brushing alone.
Is toothbrushing alone enough?
Although tooth brushing is more effective than mouthwash and flossing combined, it is still recommended to mouthwash and floss simultaneously. We would want to keep bits of food away from being stuck for days at a time. It can cause bad breath and tooth decay.
