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Dental Hygiene

How does coffee stain teeth?

01/26/2006

Question:

I`m a sixth grader working on a science project. I need back ground information and I have searched on many search engines. I have not found the answer to my question. My question is "Why does coffee stain teeth", if you could answer this question, I would be VERY grateful. Thanks!

Answer:

There are several factors as to why coffee stains teeth.  First of all, the dark brown color of coffee does cause teeth to stain.  It is the other factors that determine how much it stains.  Those factors are, how much coffee a person drinks, the roughness of the person's enamel of their teeth, the organic salts in the saliva, the amount of saliva an individual has, and how the person's oral hygiene is.  I hope this helps!  If you need a reference it is:  Dental Hygiene Concepts, Cases and Competencies by Daniels and Harfst.  Mosby, Inc. 2002.

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Response by:

Michele P Carr, RDH, MA Michele P Carr, RDH, MA
Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene
Associate Professor of HS Nursing Quality & Research
College of Dentistry
The Ohio State University