Expert explains the four common food and drink mistakes that might explain why you have yellow teeth

No matter how much you brush, how often you floss and how quickly you get through bottles of mouthwash, it sometimes seems you just can’t shake that shade of your teeth.

Maybe you’ve tried countless TikTok hacks and products at this point and yet your gnashers are still yellow. And sure, basically no one ever notices and has never commented on them, but we’ve all got our own insecurities.

But perhaps it’s less about your cleaning and hygiene and more down to mistakes your making with food and drink.

Dr Derek Chung is a dentist in Canada and shares videos to the page 'Paste Dental' to offer up advice on dental health. And in one clip, he shared four common mistakes that may be the reason for your yellow teeth.

The dentist advises using straws. (Getty Stock)

Drinking through a straw

The dentist says it could be because ‘you’re not drinking coffee through a straw’.

Now, this is probably more to do with iced coffee, because who is drinking their hot cuppa through a straw?

Chung reckons doing so will ‘send beverages past your front teeth’ and therefore, you reduce the drink’s ‘ability to discolour them’.

Water to wine

Another reason you could have yellow teeth could apparently be because ‘you’re not drinking water between glasses of wine’.

Usually, the trick advised to help with a hangover, Chung says: “Swishing your mouth out with water after drinking wine can help to wash away the tannins that stick to your teeth and leave those ugly stains behind.”

All those cuppas could take affect. (Getty Stock)

Energy drinks

A tough one for those who have that go-to pick me up, the dentist claims energy drinks could be a culprit of your yellow teeth.

Chung says: “Energy drinks and sports drinks are a no-go because they’re super acidic.”

He says that the caffeine hits tend to ‘wear down your enamel’ and therefore make your teeth ‘weaker’.

Tea and coffee

Perhaps the most obvious one, it’s not one a lot of us want to hear – the dentist advises cutting down on tea and coffee.

Just like we’d use them as kids to make ‘old looking paper’, he explains that the drinks are ‘culprits for staining’ due to their tannins, which ‘seep into your teeth’ and leave dark marks.

Don’t start panicking about your yellow teeth though lads, in most cases discolouration is simply a cosmetic issue rather than a health one.