by maria |
Last Updated: February 27, 2021 Foods to Eat and Not to Eat After Professional Teeth Whitening
Electric white teeth add exceptional value to your facial appeal. Despite regular cleaning and flossing, people lose teeth whiteness due to unavoidable food habits and other factors. Thankfully, modern dentistry offers you safe and simple teeth whitening solutions to regain natural whiteness of your teeth. Dentists use chemicals like hydrogen peroxide to bleach the stained areas, which temporarily exposes the dentin layer thus avoiding some food and beverages for a few days could help you keep teeth longer. Oral care experts recommend white diet post teeth whitening procedure not just to reduce staining but to minimize the feeling of discomfort in your gums.
What Stains Your Teeth?
It is a fact that it is very challenging to avoid modern food for longer duration, but brief sacrifice can help you regain natural whiteness with least discomfort. Teeth discoloration happens due to tannins, acids, and chromogens found in many common foods. Since your enamel and dentin get exposed during teeth whitening procedure these components can stain your enamel or make it weaker allowing easy staining. Here is the list of food items experts recommend to eat or not to eat post teeth whitening:
Foods to Avoid After Teeth Whitening
Teeth whitening procedure involves removal of stains and plaques, which could damage enamel and dentin temporarily. So, it is better to avoid certain food and beverages so that you could get better and long-lasting whitening results. Here are some of the foods to avoid post teeth-whitening treatment:
- Coffee: Experts recommend total avoidance of coffee for at least 48 hours post teeth whitening. If you can’t resist, then it’s better to add milk to reduce the chances of staining but not more than two cups.
- Tea: Compared to coffee, tea is far more powerful in staining your newly whitened teeth. So, it is better to avoid black tea, or if difficult to avoid then better have the milk tea.
- Wine & Juice: The acid composition and dark color of red wine makes it a powerful staining agent. Acidity weakens your enamel, thus increasing the vulnerability to other staining foods. Same applies to fruit juice as they are highly acidic in nature.
- Fizzy Drinks: It is strictly prohibited post-whitening treatment. It is a worthy sacrifice to make for a few days to have long-lasting whiteness.
- Dark Fruits and Condiments: It is better to avoid balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, tomato sauce, and all other dark fruits due to its high acid content and coloring agent.
- Chocolate and Sweets: Most chocolates are known for high caffeine content, so if you want your whitening to last longer you should avoid them for at least 48 hours. Same is the case of sweets as it increases the chances of staining significantly.
- Tobacco: If you are addicted to smoking, then you have no option other than quitting for at least 3-4 days, if not forever.
Foods to Eat After Teeth Whitening
Most oral care experts will suggest a list of products to avoid post teeth whitening treatment, but miss to highlight what to eat for long-lasting teeth whiteness. Here is the list to help you eat healthy, not just for body but teeth as well.
- Chicken: Since the idea is to avoid acidic and colorful food, you can eat chicken or turkey as these are light-colored and acid-free.
- Fish: Again, you should avoid darker fish and go for white fishes to minimize the risk of avoidable teeth staining.
- Rice: White rice will go well with your chicken and fish and of course will have no bad effect on your newly whitened teeth.
- Pasta: It is not bad for white teeth, but you should avoid colored sauces for a few days to keep teeth shining white.
- White Cheese: You can have white cheese but avoid red/white wine with this meal.
- Onion: You can have onions in your food, but avoid red onions as these contain some coloring.
- Egg Whites: Eggs aren’t prohibited post-whitening treatment, but you should remove yolk as it contains some color.
- Potatoes: You can have meals made of potatoes, but it is better to peels the skin and use only white portion.
- White Bread: Eat white bread as per you regular diet, but try to remove the crust as this could trigger staining.
- Bananas: If you want to have fruits post-treatment, then banana is a great option as it is least risky.
Bottom Line
Teeth whitening can transform your smile and appearance. Your dentist can deliver sparkling white teeth in just one session, but by following white diet recommendations you can keep your teeth white longer than average. You are smart to understand the role food habits play in making your teeth dark or white, so be smart in choosing what to eat and what to avoid.