Metal Mouth Message Board

Does anybody know? How about red wine?

Black coffee, definitely.

Red wine, probably.

Any of these substance will stain light colored ligs. If not the first time, than definitely with repeated exposure.

As many of us know, curry is the worst offender.

You may want to read this page:

http://www.archwired.com/curry_stain.htm

I have a gray (not silver) powerchain on my clear brackets. The gray is really difficult to see and I would argue that, at least in the case of my powerchain, it conceals the wire more than clear does. I have never had a problem with staining with my two cups of black coffee a day habit. I also drink tea regularly and soda on occasion and I've never had an issue. I have not tried curry or red wine (I don't like either of them).

Good luck.

Using a straw, even with coffee helps in the staining dept.

I wore smoke colored powerchains and eventually they stained, but were never really too noticable.

Yayme! wrote:Does anybody know? How about red wine?

Ligs are just like your teeth. I tell folks the same thing after whitening, "stay away from things that will stain a white shirt. If it stains a white shirt it will stain your teeth". That being said, there are ways to remove stains from your ligs just like your favorite white shirt.

Create a slurry of baking soda and water and brush it on your clear ligatures. Work it in but make sure to let the brush do the work and don't push to hard. Rinse and voila, nearly new ligatures. The easier alternative is to brush once/day with a toothpaste that has baking soda in it. YMMV, but it should help noticeably.

Best,
Rory

Thanks guys! I guess I'll used a straw...This is my first day in braces and I'm obsessed with keeping them clear!

I hear smoke colored chains are the way to go if you like to drink/eat staining stuff.

I drink coffee every single day. Usually it's half milk and half coffee...and my ligs still stain a bit with time.

I've had light silver, clear, white, and tooth-colored ligs...they all stain a bit after some time...but the white and tooth-colored stain the least.

I drink about 2 cups a day with cream, and it hasn't been too bad... but let me just warn:

Curry WILL stain your braces.

I thought it would be OK if I brushed as soon as I'd finished eating and tried to keep it off my brackets. NOPE. I ate it really fast and scrubbed my teeth with whitening toothpaste as soon as I was done, and it made them VERY yellow, and I had pearly light gray ligs. Unless you can live with yellow ligs, don't even try it! Not even a bite.

The up-side is that now, since they're already stained, I can eat MORE curry!

Red wine, not too bad either. I try not to let any colorful food sit on my teeth - I rinse and brush ASAP. The same goes for sugary food.

I'm finding that pale pink ligs keep very stain-free. I don't drink wine or black coffee, but I do drink masses of tea, hot chocolate, dark berry coloured fruit juices, iced coffees, and also things like mustard, soy and tomato-based sauces. After a month there is no apparent stain at all.

I know males might be put off the idea of pink, but these are so pale and neutral looking (nearly as invisible as clear ones) that they don't look "girly". They look more along the gender-neutral lines of pale pink sticking plasters/elastoplast, or that pinkish coloured fabric people sometimes used to have on plaster casts.

I would highly recommend them. This is why I got sick of clear ones, anything is better than this: