What To Eat After Getting Teeth Whitened

People who have had their teeth whitened will often be warned to avoid foods that stain their teeth at least for the near future. The first few weeks after teeth are whitened, the teeth will be sensitive and prone to staining, and it is wise to stay away from food and drink that you know will stain the teeth. Foods that do this include dark meat, spinach and blueberries. It is a matter of finding the staining foods in your diet and replacing them – in the short term at least – with foods that are non-staining.

Commonly, the foods and drinks that are earmarked as “staining” are ones which are dark in color and to some extent “wet”. Foods that contain juices can get into the grooves which may have been left by the bleaching – this goes for drinks too, so if you want to avoid staining it is important to at least temporarily avoid black coffee and red wine. Replacing these foods and drinks may involve some trial and error, but there are some better choices around.

Instead of eating beef, you should eat chicken or pork as these are light meats. Instead of drinking red wine, change to white wine. Replace blueberries with strawberries, spinach with celery and tomatoes with cucumber. You can maintain a balanced diet and keep your newly-bleached teeth looking white for longer. You will still need to brush your teeth and keep a dental hygiene regime going, but the effects will be much greater if you eat the right things.

This Treatment Is Not For Everyone

As popular as teeth whitening has become, one thing that needs to be remembered is that it cannot be used by everyone. This comes as a disappointment to many, as the natural reaction to seeing the results of a successful treatment is that most people will consider having it themselves. However, there are some people who cannot, and must not have the treatment – because even if it works for them, the side-effects will be of a negative kind and will potentially cause more harm than having no treatment at all.

People under the age of 16 cannot have teeth whitening surgery. The fact of the matter is that at this age the nerves of the teeth are enlarged, and any treatment of the nature of tooth whitening will irritate those nerves or cause them to become hyper-sensitive in the medium term. Without question, this will result in pain and can be damaging to the future health of the teeth. There is no point in having a bright, gleaming smile if you are in so much pain that you cannot flash it.

Additionally, pregnant women and those who are lactating should not have the treatment. The active ingredient of the tooth-whitening agent can be absorbed and, while harmless to adults, can be harmful to an unborn child if passed through the placenta or to a newborn if taken through feeding. Even in the case of over-the-counter treatment with a less powerful formula, it is advisable to avoid treatment until such time as a baby has been weaned so that the danger is absolutely zero.

Common Sense Leads To The Right Choice

With the level of choice available in the teeth whitening market today, it is very easy to choose the wrong product or service. Telling whether something is “good” or “bad” is not a simple matter of looking at how it is packaged or sold – indeed, there is a school of thought which would claim that the more attractively you package something the more you will be able to hide the fact that it is useless. As consumers, we need to pay closer attention and have a more enlightened approach to deciding where to spend our money.

Having your teeth whitened is often an expensive choice. The many options available to us as consumers are one thing, but if you see something at a lower price in one place than everywhere else, it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that the lower-priced service must automatically be worse. It’s not necessarily so. This means that you need to research your options.

Some people have found that for cosmetic dentistry processes their preferred choice is to go abroad. There is the question of paying for travel but, on the other hand, the treatment can be a lot cheaper depending on the country – and lose nothing in terms of quality. You can even combine the trip to get your teeth whitened with a holiday in the city where the treatment is carried out, making it a dual purpose journey. Whatever you do, though, it is important to be sure that you make an informed choice.