Did you recently get a cosmetic dental procedure? If so, you should heed caution, especially in the food you eat, to make the treatment last. Here are some food types a cosmetic dentist in Wilkes Barre and elsewhere will advise you to avoid:
Staining Food and Dark Beverages
Teeth whitening procedures brighten a person’s smile. The quality of the whitening treatment may diminish, however, if you frequently take food and dark beverages that can stain teeth, like beets, blueberries, coffee, soft drinks, tea, and red wine. Similarly, the adhesive used to bond cosmetic dental appliances like veneers could get stained by these highly pigmented food and drinks.
Hard Food
Veneers and other dental prosthetics are quite durable, but too much force or stress can chip or knock them off. Chewing on hard meat, nuts, crusty bread, and ice should be avoided. As with natural teeth, biting your nails, pens, and other hard objects is discouraged to avoid damaging these prosthetics.
Candy
Traditionally restorative in nature, porcelain crowns, bridges, and veneers may be used for cosmetic reasons. Candy is one of the biggest enemies of these dental prosthetics. To answer the question, “Can I Eat Candy If I Have a Crown Or Bridge?,” Shawn Watson, dentistry guide for About.com, suggests:
“Eating candy when you have a crown or bridge should be avoided. Apart from the destruction that sugar has on your teeth and gums, candy can cause a number of problems for people that have a crown or bridge…”
Ms. Watson further says that biting on hard candy can break or chip the porcelain.
“Hard mints, candy covered nuts and peanut brittle are specifically damaging to porcelain crowns and bridges, because they require a great amount of force to break apart the candy.”
A crown or bridge may loosen and fall out when you eat candy. Sticky, chewy candy like toffee and gum can cling to the surface of the prosthetic and partially separate it from the tooth. A loosened crown or bridge could completely detach and potentially cause choking as you sleep or eat.
Investing on cosmetic dental procedures can help improve your smile and appearance, and thus boost your self-confidence. To ensure optimal and long lasting results, a reputable cosmetic dentist in Wilkes-Barre, like Dr. James DeFinnis of Back Mountain Dental, will provide patients with proper care instructions, and suggestions on the kind of food to avoid.
As a patient, you have the responsibility to maintain your prosthetics as advised by the dentist. If they do get accidentally damaged, make sure to bring them to the dentist as soon as possible for repair or replacement.
