St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, which means that this weekend everything in sight is going to be dyed green.
All that can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a serious problem if you’re trying to keep your smile white. If you want to protect your smile this St. Patrick’s Day, here are some hazards you may face and what you can do about them.
How Can St. Patrick’s Day Discolor Your Smile?
As you may have noticed, the green beer that’s popular this time of year is colored with plain green food coloring, which can form deposits on your teeth that discolor them. However, even some normal beers can start to cause problems; Guinness, for example, contains darker pigments that can also have this effect. As you probably know, these beers are also popular on St. Patrick’s Day.
To make matters worse, alcohol can also dry out the saliva in the mouth, which would ordinarily serve as the mouth’s natural cleanser. This means that those pigments may sit on the teeth much longer than they would otherwise.
How to Keep Your Smile Shining
If you want to stave off some of the damage that the beer might ordinarily do to your smile, there are a few things you can try.
For one, you can try to stimulate saliva production to wash away the pigments on your teeth. The best way to do this is to stay hydrated as you drink; pair each beer with a glass of water to keep your teeth from building up stains.
It’s also worth noting that these pigments often get caught in plaque deposits between the teeth, so it may be worth flossing well both before and after drinking.
Finally, you can be proactive and schedule an appointment with your dentist for after the holidays are over. You can go for simple cleaning and polishing, but if you feel like splurging, a teeth whitening may be a good idea. You can undo years of discoloration within just one appointment!
About the Author
Dr. Chung Chien Hsia is a dentist who believes in the power of dentistry to change the lives of people. He loves that he can give people the confidence and ease that they may have been seeking for a long time. Dr. Hsia received his doctorate in dentistry from the Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine, and he has since completed hundreds of hours of continuing education.
If you have any questions about how best to keep your smile shining, he can be reached at his website or by phone at (214) 432-1133.
