Thanksgiving is a time to make warm memories with friends and loved ones captured through home videos and photos, but your stained smile from eating foods like cranberry sauce is the last memory you want to memorialize! You may be surprised to know that there are three popular celebratory foods that can lead to dental staining, ruining your holiday photos. Read on to learn what they are and how you can keep your smile bright and healthy-looking during Thanksgiving.
How Do Teeth Stain?
Before diving into the “how” of dental discoloration, it’s important to know that there are two different types of tooth stains, called intrinsic and extrinsic stains. Intrinsic discoloration is settled deeper within a tooth, in the layer beneath the enamel, called the dentin. On the other hand, extrinsic stains are more surface-level and are settled on the enamel, or the outermost layer of the tooth.
Intrinsic staining typically occurs due to excessive fluoride consumption as a child, dental decay, taking certain medications, like antihistamines and doxycycline, and aging, many of which aren’t preventable. However, extrinsic staining is primarily caused by consuming foods and beverages that are high in tannins, which are naturally occurring chemical compounds that can stick to tooth enamel and discolor the smile.
3 Tooth-Staining Thanksgiving Foods
There are three main Thanksgiving foods to keep an eye out for that could stain your teeth:
- Berry Pies: Blueberries, blackberries, and even raspberries have the highest tannin values in the berry family, so if you love eating your family’s blueberry pie recipe every Thanksgiving, be mindful of the impact it could have on your smile!
- Mulled Wine: Mulled wine is a combination of red wine with holiday spices like cloves and star anise, as well as brandy and sweetener. However, it’s the red wine base that’s one of the reasons why this delicious, celebratory beverage can stain your smile.
- Cranberry Sauce: Is your favorite part of cranberry sauce the balance of bitter and sweet? The bitterness that you get when you eat it is actually because of its high tannin content.
Getting Your Smile Brighter for the Holidays
If the treats you’re really looking forward to during the holidays are any of the three listed above, there’s no need to deny yourself the satisfaction of eating or drinking them! Just be mindful not to regularly snack on them throughout the day, as this could increase the chances of discoloring your smile even more. You could also invest in professional at-home teeth whitening from your cosmetic dentist in Vero Beach, which would allow you to brighten your smile either before or during the festivities, so you don’t have to worry about it looking discolored in any photos!
About the Practice
Drs. Julie Cromer and Justin Schwartz are passionate and highly experienced dentists, with collective decades of knowledge to draw on at each appointment. With a dedication to offering patients comprehensive dentistry under one roof, they can take care of all of your basic, restorative, and even cosmetic needs during the holiday season. To purchase a professional-grade, take-home teeth whitening kit, visit Cromer & Cairns Dental’s website or call 772-562-5051.