Do you need your jolt of java every morning to face the day? It may wake you up, but is it good for you? And how does it affect your teeth?
We know that eating certain foods, smoking, and drinking coffee can darken your teeth. But studies also show that drinking coffee can reduce your risk for some cancers. So… is coffee good or bad for you?
Coffee Pros: It’s hard not to like the taste and aroma of a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning. The caffeine will also give you a bit of an energy boost to help your start your day. In addition, drinking several cups of coffee daily will help you lower your risk of oral cancer.
A recent study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that you can decrease your risk of dying from oral and pharyngeal cancers by half if you drink more than four cups of coffee daily. Researchers aren’t sure why this is true other than coffee contains a variety of biological compounds and antioxidants that can protect against cancer.
Researchers also found that you didn’t have to drink more than four cups of coffee a day, but the risk of death from oral cancer gradually fell with each additional cup. There was less of a protective effect with decaffeinated coffee and none by drinking tea.
Coffee Cons: On the flip side, drinking all that coffee can darken your teeth. Stains can occur outside the surface of the tooth and inside the tooth, which can lead to discoloration of the enamel. Drinking coffee also has an effect on your breath that is so notorious it has officially been deemed “coffee breath”. Other negative effects of coffee include dehydration – leading to dry mouth – and loss of sleep.
So don’t feel guilty about drinking your coffee! But if you’re worried about how your teeth will look, learn more about teeth-whitening here.