Braces & Coffee

Message

#1 Post by **martinboyce** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:04 am

Im a bit of a coffee fiend

and im worried when i get braces that itll stain, obviously ill brush frequently and mouthwash etc but has anyone with braces had a problem?

I couldnt give up coffee, how to explain my level of addiction, erm, has anyone seen "I am legend" the bit where the zombie falls out the window into the sunlight and kills himself by banging his head against the road. Well im kinda like that if i dont get my 2 cups in the morning

!

#2 Post by **muppet** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:37 am

Hello,

I have not had any problems with drinking coffee.

I have ceramic on top and metal on bottom with pearl ligs that are fairly stain resistant (mind you I do not eat curry!)

I have to have at least 2 cups of coffee before I can contemplate the world every morning and so far I've had no noticable staining. The ligs always look cleaner after they have been changed but then that is after 6 weeks of coffee and hot chocolate!

Someone on this site has suggested drinking through a straw as it is not in as much contact with the ligs but coffee through a straw just does not feel right if you know what I mean!

Good luck with the brace

#3 Post by **browneyedgrl** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:16 am

Hi Martin,

I'm a coffee fiend myself and I'm drinking my first cup of the day as I type. I have ceramic uppers and when they were getting placed, the ortho assistant started to place clear ligs and I mentioned that I drink coffee. She asked the ortho about wire ties and I have them from 4-4 and the rest of my teeth are sporting silver ligs.

Good Luck!

B

#4 Post by **Beckster** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:31 am

Martin,

I am yet another one who cannot start the day without that lovely coffee. If you are going all metal, you can probably go as light in color as a really light blue without having to worry too much about staining. Good luck!

~Becky

#5 Post by **SnowSara** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:35 pm

Coffee drinker here!

In the year that I've had braces I've tried almost every color of lig my ortho has to offer (missed out on the yellows and golds though). I had some ligs that stained more than others - darker colors of course worked better than light colors at resisting coffee stains. I had a deep burgundy red color once that was the best at keeping its color throughout the 8 week adjustment. Purple, teal and dark blue also did well, and black didn't change a bit! The metallic shades were very stain resistant. I think the worst staining was light pink and light blue, they were pretty in the beginning but the coffee had the strongest affect on them.

#6 Post by **Drama Queen** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:59 pm

I have ceramic uppers and lowers with clear ligs and I drink everything that has potential to stain, including coffee, through a straw. It seems odd at first, but I have been doing it for so long I have forgotten what it is like to drink these kind of things normally. I always carry a supply of straws with me at all times....i am even thinking of writing an autobiography and calling it "Life through a straw"!

Lau xx

#7 Post by **momof3** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:00 pm

I have gold ligs and haven't had any problem with staining from coffee.

#8 Post by **KK Cat** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:03 pm

I don't drink coffee but I do drink tea (hey I'm Irish, what can I say

). My teeth stain from the tea but the ligatures I've had so far havn't stained at all. (see www hereunder, I've had grey, blue, teal, purple, & 2 different pinks, no pastels though all strong colours).

My hygienist suggested I change to coffee from tea as it's not half as bad she says, I hate coffee though. I only put the teeniest bit of milk in my tea and she also suggested that I use more milk. I have been trying, but I can only go so far before it tastes yuck. I tried the straw too but it's not the same

Me without tea sounds the same as you without coffee, not good

#9 Post by **TumbleDryLow** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:14 am

Why is it that coffee through a straw just isn't the same!? I feel the same way, and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one. I tried. I bought a pack of straws for home and a pack for work. It lasted about a week. I decided that I either need to give up the addiction completely (yeah, right) or just deal with the lig issue. I haven't had braces that long, so I've only tried smoke, light gray and silver ligs. Smoke and light gray looked dingy by adjustment time. The silver is great. I can eat almost anything without consequence, but they are the most noticeable of the three colors on ceramic brackets. I'll have to see if my ortho has pearl and try those.

#10 Post by **BoSox2008** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:39 pm

I have Damon braces, so I do not have ligatures on my brackets. However, I have always been worried about having my teeth stain around the brackets, and have white spots where the brackets were once the braces come off!

I cannot go a morning without a cup of coffee (or two) and I also sometimes drink Diet Coke and red wine on occassion. My teeth look fairly white so far, but I guess the real verdict will come out once my brackets are removed!

I try to have coffee in the morning and brush immediately after. I have become a bit obsessive compulsive with this and will often refuse to drink colored drinks (soda, wine, juice, coffee, tea) unless I know that I can get home and brush my teeth immediately after. I hope it is all worth it, otherwise, I guess Crest White strips will have to do the trick : )

Good luck to you!

#11 Post by mg » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:47 pm

COFFEE!! My B-day was today. When I arrived back at my office the only thing I was Jones'n for was a cup of our good, hot (very soothing to my gums today), black coffee. Ahhhh...........all is well.

#12 Post by **joney** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:19 pm

BoSox2008 don't brush immediately after consumming acidic drinks such as juice or soda, it only spreads the acid around. I've been told only to drink juices with meals whilst in braces as I suppose the food nuetralises the acids a bit. You should wait about an hour to brush after consumming acidic drinks.

I drink a lot of tea, and believe me it is much worse than coffee for staining teeth, just look in the cups afterwards and you'll see. Years ago I used to drink coffee more and I had hardly any staining.

I don't have ligs as I have a damon brace. However this sort of staining is just surface and can be cleaned off by a good hygienist trip when you get your brace off so don't worry too much about it damaging teeth or leaving white spots. However I can imagine stained ligs aren't so good. My daughter had developed the habbit of drinking with a straw when she was braced, and now several months down the line after her brace removal she still reaches for a straw. I just can't imagine drinking tea with a straw though. Apologies for the pun but that would be the last straw!

Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:16 pm

ahhhh... having a double double now. It hasn't stained anything. But, I'm not much of a coffee drinker. I only have an occasional coffee (with 2 creams and 2 sugars because I don't like strong coffee)
- mariah

#14 Post by **joney** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:51 pm

Actually I must say that although I don't have ligs I do have four clear powerchains and until recently I had a powerchain across my top fronts (it is a wire powerchain now). They did stain a bit and I think I had the top ones for about 8 weeks and really they weren't too bad.

The way I look at it I consider my teeth a work in progress and they're never going to look all that great until I get the brace off, so if I did have ligs on each bracket I don't think staining would bother me too much. There is no point in making yourself miserable in the experience so I would say that if you enjoy a cup of tea or coffee then carry on enjoying it just do your best to give your teeth a really good clean once day.

#15 Post by **SnowSara** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:51 pm

A nice surprise for me at debanding today - the assistant was able to polish off my coffee stains with a special burr! She used one burr to grind away the extra glue, and used another smaller polishing burr to banish away my stains and leave my teeth shiny! I'm still going to do some whitening as well, but it was nice to leave the office with a fresh, stain-free mouth! I was so afraid of having white spots where my brackets were, but it was not the case!