Date night teeth tips from our reception team 

I read an article recently about what people most notice about you when they first meet you. 

The results were:-

  • Smile 47%
  • Eyes 31%
  • Clothes 7%
  • Hair 4%

Looks like your smile is the most important thing.  So I was inspired to write 'Date night teeth tips' to give you just a few pointers that'll help your date remember you for all the right reasons...

Red wine teeth stains

Who doesn’t love a big glass of juicy red wine?  But you know the problem.  A few sips in, and you’ve got purple teeth and purple lips, and it just isn’t a good look.

Prevention is better than cure.

First of all, make sure you brush your teeth thoroughly before drinking red wine.  The tannins in the wine act in the same way as a plaque disclosing tablet, so the cleaner your teeth, the less likely they will stain.

Next, make sure your mouth is not dry - the dryness makes the purple colour stick to your teeth more.  So sip fizzy water in between your sips of wine.

And the purple will stick to dry lips more than moist ones, too.  So lip balm or gloss will help prevent yours drying out, although it'll need to be re-applied frequently, and you could end up with a ton of it on the rim of the glass…  But better that than a tell-tale purple stain all around your mouth.

And for the men?  Well, you're just going to have to give some careful thought to how you can incorporate sparkly lip gloss into your outfit before venturing down the pub.

Finally, eating hard cheese while drinking red wine can help prevent staining as the calcium in the cheese acts almost like a filler on the surface of your teeth, which helps to stop the stain from clinging.  As if we needed a reason for wine and cheese…

Did you know..? White wine stains just as much as red does.  But since the staining from white is almost the same colour as your natural teeth, you can’t see it.

Salads on a date are a bit of a no-no

Salads are a great, healthy choice from the menu.  But they can contain one or both of the absolute worst foods to eat on a date; spinach and lettuce.
We all know that spinach is terrible for getting stuck in your teeth.  But often overlooked is lettuce... 

Once oil or dressing is added to lettuce, it has exactly the same teeth-sticking power as spinach.  So be wary of ordering that healthy salad if you're in the company of someone you'd like to impress…

Our very own Saara kindly shared this horror story with me
“I speak from experience when I say lettuce is the worst. I once went for several hours with a piece of dark lettuce covering my entire front tooth, and I was laughing and grinning away baring my teeth to all. My friend thought it was hilarious and waited a long time before saying anything – it was seriously embarrassing.  Learn from my humiliation!”

Another reason to be wary of salads is that some are scattered with pesky little date-wreckers like chia seeds.  Roughly the size and colour of poppy seeds (more on those critters below), they seem to get everywhere.  These are best avoided, but if you absolutely must order that dish with chia seeds, be very careful to check all around your teeth afterwards.  Grabbing a knife using it as a mirror to surreptitiously glance at just your front teeth won't do.  Head to the nearest proper mirror and give it the widest grin you can so you can check all around the sides of your teeth for those little pests.

Skip the bread rolls

As above, seeds are a popular addition to bread crusts, poppy seeds being the ones that come to mind. 

Do you really want to risk your teeth being speckled with little black dots? 

Step away from that poppy seed roll.

Soup is not a date night food

Soup can be another minefield on a date. 

Never mind the slurping and potential splash-back issues, but herbs like parsley and chives can be chopped very finely into soup and will find their way into every crack and crevice of your teeth. 

Soup's a weird thing to order on a date anyway, I think.  So don't say I didn’t warn you.

Pepper?

Don’t overlook the fact that flecks of pepper are just as unattractive when grinning out from your teeth as seeds and spinach. 

Perhaps decline with thanks when the waitress brandishes that huge peppermill at you.

Date night breath

We all know these ones - the foods to avoid because of niffy odours rather than appearance.  Garlic is the worst offender, as that stuff comes out of your pores as well as on your breath.  Avoid it like the plague if you're planning to get up close and personal later in the evening. 

And of course onions aren't going to do you any favours in that department, either. 

And finally...

Strangely, having breath that smells very strongly of minty toothpaste or mouthwash can also be off-putting.  It can give the impression that you're trying to cover up the pungent aromas of your last meal, or that perhaps you normally suffer from bad breath.  Don't go mad with the toothpaste before a date – just brush your normal way.


So there you go.  Follow these few simple tips and you should have sparkly pearly-whites for your whole date.  Have fun!

Disclaimer:
No responsibility is taken for the effect that having a beautiful smile will have on your date.

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