Metal Mouth Message Board

It is my last night without braces so I went for a nice steak and some good red wine. I also had about four cups of coffee this morning. I think I have been losing sleep recently through fear! Anyway, my question is, what drinks do I have to avoid with braces to make sure they don't stain? Are red wine and coffee out of my life for the next two years?!

Four cups of coffee in one morning????? Yikes!!!!! My heart is racing just reading this.

If you're getting ceramic brackets and tooth coloured ligatures (the o-rings that secure the wire to the bracket), then things like red wine and coffee will, over time, stain the ligs. The way around this is to go with colours that don't stain. There is a lig colour thread here somewhere which can provide some help. I've got lilac on my ceramics, they're reasonably discreet and nothing can dent the colour.

My ortho allows me to come in and replace my bands every week if I want...I have the clear ones replaced every week. They never get really bad, no matter what I eat or drink. HOWEVER, it seems that my teeth always seem to get tender...either they're sore before I go in and it hurts when they change them or afterwards, they hurt from just the changing of the bands. So, this time around, I'm going to try to change them every two weeks.

You beat me by one! I have only... 3 cups of coffee in the morning . But I have tea all day .

I now have a metal mouth, I don't worry about brace staining. However before the metal, I had ceramic brackets for a while. I didn't wear color ligs then. I tried to avoid lig staining by drinking coffee and tea thru a straw. I know it looks "girly" but that's how I kept the ligs clear.

I have to agree with Meryaten about using a whitening toothpaste... I have pearl-white ligs which appear to stain with coffee but a good brushing brings the original color back.

Here's to smooth, efficient, relatively-painless treatment!

~Victor

I have ceramics on the upper with clear ligs. After reading all the staining threads, I was paranoid about it. I love my coffee in the morning and I drink red wine with dinner almost every night. I also drink green tea during the day. It has now been four weeks since they came on, and I would say that they have turned SLIGHTLY yellowish/whitish. I am happily surprised unless they will get worse before my adjustment in 4 weeks. The red wine seems to give them a red/purplish tint but by the time I wake up in the morning, they have returned to be the white/yellowish tint. My teeth are on the yellow side so maybe I don't see it as that bad. Anyway, I think that I will stick with clear for now.

OK, so I have them on and I have brand spanking new white brackets that are self-ligating. I guess this means I can crack open a bottle of red without a care in the world. And I can head to starbucks first thing too!

I drink everything through a straw whether it be tea, coffee, fizzy drinks it is great as I don't stain any of my clear ligs. I always carry straws with me when out and about.

And it appears that it is not just brace wearers that do this - the actress Billie Piper also drinks her coffee through a straw so that it doesn't stain her perfect while teeth!

Lau xx

Wow, does drinking things through a straw really help with staining? I need to go and buy some! I love my tea, coffee and red wine. I've only had my braces on for a week but I'm worried that my teeth and brackets are already starting to stain slightly even with careful brushing and whitening toothpaste. I don't have any ligatures as I have damon ice brackets on the top 6 teeth, so they're not supposed to stain.

I LOVE hot tea. Love it love it.

I had clear ligs put on initially. After one week of drinking my favorite tea - roobios - they turned this horrible orange color. I had to swear off the tea. When I went in for my adjustment, my ortho just laughed and said 'try these' and put on some silver ligs. They are barely noticeable and have yet to stain, even with me drinking two to three cups of double-strength tea a day. Also, the smoke ligs are not very noticeable either - I have those now. I can drink my tea without fear!!

However, I have noticed that when I eat fresh strawberries, pomegranate or cherries, the adhesive gets a slight pink tint until I brush. I don't often brush after eating when I'm busy at work (I snack all day), but rinse with water at my desk.

So far my ceramics are not discolored, it's just been the ligs.

Please humour me cause I'm pretty new to this as well.....I thought that using whitening toothpaste was a bad ideadcause it whitens the area round the bracket and not under the bracket so you end up with brown squares on yourteeth when the braces are removed? Yes? No? Maybe?

Okay, I know most of this thread has focused on staining... but what about drinks that don't stain as much, but just aren't too healthy? For instance, I've never been a wine or coffee drinker... but I do enjoy soda--and I know that is really bad. I've cut back my soda intake to about one can, once a week (with a meal and a straw). Here's my question--at my initial braces appointment I was told to drink apple juice or milk--do you guys think it's really bad to drink Juicy Juice (it's mostly apple juice, no added sugar, and I've become hooked on it), Kool-Aid (those little packages that you pour into bottled water are so good and convenient), and Light Lemonade (no added sugar but it's loaded with citiric acid)? I drink everything (except water) with a straw. I don't like milk and plain water gets boring... any good suggestions?

KK wrote:Danielle any drink with colour will stain ... some stain faster than others, depending on what ingredient (or poison) is giving the drink colour.

Fizz ... or soda as you call it ... is ok in moderation ... same as breathing and living! Remember not to brush after drinking fizz, but instead to rinse with water. AFter 30 minutes, most of the acid will be gone and if you want to brush, it's ok to do so then.

Enjoy your food and your drinks!

oh wow --- I did not know you weren't supposed to drink right after drinking soda!!!!! that's new to me -- thanks Karen

Thanks Kiwi..that makes sense.