If you love to drink your calories, sometimes even preferring to sip rather than chew your diet, you may wind up with stained teeth. Popular drinks such as red wine and hot tea can turn your pearly whites into a discolored smile. Fortunately, you can take some precautions to keep your teeth looking great without giving up your favorite beverages.

Red Wine

If you are a red wine drinker, you are already familiar with the red stains that can cover your teeth after indulging in this treat. You have several choices. You can either keep your red wine habit behind closed doors at home or you can try a few preventative measures. Experts recommend brushing your teeth about an hour before you expect to drink red wine. After you finish drinking the wine, you do need to wait for an hour or so before brushing again. Surprisingly, brushing too soon after drinking wine can help the wine penetrate your teeth and harm them. If you are not worried about how you appear while drinking wine, you can even try sipping it through a straw. You'll protect your teeth although you may attract some attention from other diners. However, it's a small price to pay for white teeth and a red wine buzz.

Tea

Although the English might not want to hear this fact, hot tea is a teeth stainer. If you cannot live with your cuppa once or twice a day, the look of your smile may suffer. If you can teach yourself to like iced tea, however, you can drink to your heart's content with little staining. The agents in tea that stain, theaflavins, do not dissolve in cold water but do in hot. Once they are unleashed, they can adhere to your teeth. You can also drink bottled teas and tea products without much harm to your appearance. If you cannot tolerate switching to iced drinks, experts suggest brushing immediately after drinking a hot cup of tea. Unlike with wine, you do not need to wait.  

Your teeth do not have to reveal your drinking habits to the world. If you love your hot tea and red wine, you can take a few steps to keep your smile from showing it. No one wants burgundy or brown enamel. A little forethought combined with a compromise or two can keep your smile from being too colorful after you've had your favorite drinks. For more information, contact a dentist.