Caffeine always hurts your teeth. But while you are on Invisalign or you have gone through tooth extraction, do you think coffee affects you more? Yes, according to the studies, if you had a tooth extraction and you are drinking coffee, it can harm you more!
More than the metal braces, Invisalign gets damaged by coffee because the transparent plastic gets stained! Today we will learn if you can use a straw with coffee while having Invisalign on!
Contents
Invisalign Construction
To know why caffeine affects Invisalign and how can you stop it by drinking coffee through a straw, you might know about the construction of Invisalign. The basic material of Invisalign is medical-grade polyurethane. And for the complete construction, flexible plastic is added.
Here, plastic is kept transparent so that it’s not visible when the viewers see your teeth. The Invisalign is invisible and removable. Caffeine usually affects your teeth by darkening them. And when you have Invisalign on, it can affect the transparent Invisalign and make them stain.
If there are stains on the Invisalign then it will not be transparent anymore! So, the basic cause of adding Invisalign to your teeth is impractical!
Also, when you drink coffee that is too hot, the plastic construction of the Invisalign gets affected. Eventually, it comes loose for the heated food and won’t stick to your teeth!
Drinking Caffeine with a Straw
Yes, drinking coffee with an Invisalign can have bad effects on both your teeth and your Invisalign treatment. The only thing doctor recommends you to drink more is water.
But you can’t pass the whole Invisalign treatment by drinking water, can you? And this is why you should know what else to drink and how!
You can get on with so many beverages only by using one trick- A STRAW! Yes, using a straw will help you drink your favorite beverage even if you are with the Invisalign on.
All you need is to add a straw to your coffee and drink it! For the hot drinks, we would recommend you avoid them. But if you still prefer hot drinks, use straws that don’t get affected by the heat. Also, don’t settle for too hot.
When you add a straw, the drink directly goes inside your mouth almost without touching the teeth! That’s what you need! As it doesn’t touch the teeth, it wouldn’t be able to touch the Invisalign!
And when the coffee isn’t touching the Invisalign, the coffee cannot harm it too! So, in short, even if you are with Invisalign, you can drink coffee through a straw!
Drinking Coffee with a Straw: Reduce the Risk
Drinking Milk Coffee with a Straw
The color of the coffee plays a vital role here. As it is dark, it can affect your teeth more than the other food. It’s not only coffee but any caffeine that you have can have a bad effect on your teeth.
In that case, what we suggest our reader is to mix milk with the coffee. When you are adding some milk, the coffee automatically gets lighter in color.
So, eventually, it is not harming the Invisalign that much! And if you are using a straw with it, you will surely get a better result. With a straw, you can avoid the Invisalign and the teeth and directly pour the coffee inside the mouth!
And when the coffee that gets inside your mouth has added milk and is lighter in color, there are reduced chances of harming the Invisalign.
Drinking Cold Coffee with Straw
Another thing that you can do to reduce the future stains on your Invisalign, even more, is to get a straw inside your coffee and ensure that it is cold!
When the coffee is hot, there is a chance that the coffee will loosen the grips of your Invisalign. As Invisalign is constructed with plastic, you can easily harm the plastic and make the connection lose.
You might plan to drink hot coffee with a straw. But there is a chance of burning your mouth with it! Also, not all straws are designed to endure the heat of your hot coffee.
You can always settle for metal or other heat-resistant straws. But eventually, when you get the coffee directly inside your mouth, the hot coffee will still affect the Invisalign. And it can make them loose in some cases too! But this is not the case with cold coffee!
Cold coffee doesn’t make the Invisalign loosen. With Invisalign added, if you pour cold coffee directly inside your mouth avoiding the Invisalign and the teeth, you are free from any side effects! That’s how it works!
The Risk Percentage
Now, you might be thinking that the solution to drinking coffee with Invisalign is to add a straw. Yes, you might think that this is a solution. But you cannot get a 100% positive result with it. If you are on Invisalign, no matter how you drink coffee or soda, or alcohol, there will be a negative effect.
We agree that the work of the straw is to get the drink directly inside your mouth ignoring the teeth. That’s what it does. But the environment inside your mouth is wet.
As it is wet with saliva, when you drink something, it gets mixed up with the saliva. And eventually, it gets into contact with the aligners!
So, no matter how careful you are, it will in the end touch your aligners a bit. You might not see this in one day but after a long period, you will be able to see visible changes. We would say that the work of straw is to minimize it but not to prevent it!
Read more: Coffee Warmer With Auto Shut Off
Is it OK to Drink with Invisalign?
Wrap Up
As we said, the straw will partially lessen the risk of damaging or staining the Invisalign but it won’t prevent your teeth from the stains. Yes, to give up on caffeine is a good idea-forever cherished.
But we cannot expect that from a coffee freak! If you are one of them with Invisalign, you should try the coffee-with-straw method!