It is Never Too Late to Straighten Your Teeth

Braces help to give you straighter teeth, allowing you to feel more confident in the quality of your smile. Another component of an attractive smile is healthy, white teeth. One concern for someone with braces is that the parts of the teeth that are not covered with bars and brackets will be a different color when the braces finally come off. It is important to practice good oral hygiene and to eat a healthy diet when you have braces to ensure that you have beautiful teeth at the end of it all. Here are three ways to keep your teeth white with braces.

Drink teeth-staining liquids with a straw.

Dark, sugary beverages such as soda, coffee, and black tea are highly pigmented and acidic. Chromogens are highly pigmented particles that adhere to your tooth enamel and cause staining. To combat the harmful effects of these drinks, make sure that you moderate your intake of them. When you do decide to enjoy them, then make sure that you drink them through a straw. This allows you to indulge in the flavors, but spares your teeth contact with the harmful acids and sugars that can erode your enamel.

Eat crunchy fruits and vegetables.

When you get braces, you are warned not to eat whole crunchy fruits because you could damage the wires of your braces. However, you can still eat crunchy fruits and vegetables such as pears and carrots. Cut these fruits into small, manageable pieces before you eat them. Eating crunchy fruits and vegetables is beneficial for your teeth because the vigorous chewing you do to break them down stimulates saliva production. The extra saliva helps to wash away or dilute food residue on your teeth. Apples and pears are also a good option for satisfying a sweet teeth; while they have natural sugars, the high water content helps to dilute their harmful properties.

Have a glass of water after every meal.

Regular tooth brushing and flossing is the best way to make sure that your mouth stays healthy and your teeth stay white. However, you may not be able to brush your teeth when you really need to, especially after enjoying a very sugary or acidic meal. In order to combat tooth decay more readily, make sure that you rinse out your mouth or have a big glass of water after having a meal. This allows you to decrease the amount of food residues left behind on your teeth, which in turn helps you to achieve a whiter smile. To learn more, contact a business like All About Smiles Incorporated.