Which drink stains your teeth more: cola, coffee or red wine? Dentist experiment reveals ‘shocking’ answer

A dentist has revealed which of four popular drinks stains teeth the most, claiming he was ‘shocked’ by the results.

Dr. Miles Madison, a dentist based in Beverly Hills, California, took four extracted teeth and soaked them in coffee, tea, cola or red wine for ten days.

Posting the results on TikTok, Dr. Madison, who goes by the name “the gumfather” on social media, said he “wasn’t ready” to see the shocking effect red wine had on a tooth.

He lifted the cup to reveal a tooth that was almost entirely stained purple by the alcoholic beverage.

“Red wine stained the entire tooth. It stained the glaze, the root, the whole thing,” he said.

“Red wine definitely causes the most stains.”

A cup of Coca-Cola also had a dramatic effect on a tooth, not only turning it a dark color but also eating away at its structure, creating small ‘pits’.

Dr. Madison attributed this to the sour properties of the carbonated favorite.

Revealing the result, he said: ‘Coke not only stained the tooth very dark, but also caused these little pits as the acid ate away at the enamel and also some of the root structure.’

Tea beats coffee in the battle of the morning, with the first being brewed resulting in the least amount of stains.

When he revealed the result for coffee, Dr. Madison saw how the crown had turned a yellow tinge and the root was a deep brown.

“It is significantly darker than when we started and the root surface in particular, which does not contain as many minerals as the enamel, is very discolored,” he said.

In contrast, the results for tea, while similar, were not as dramatic: the root turned a lighter brown.

‘It also stained, but not as bad (as coffee). You can see that the root has become much more stained than the enamel,” Dr. Madison said.

Social media users also said they were shocked by the results.

“Oh no, but these are my favorite drinks,” one person wrote.

“I think I’ll order water next time,” wrote another.

Other users suggested that Dr. Madison repeat the experiment with different drinks, such as beer, to which the dentist replied that he would try that “next time.”

The experiment does not reflect real-life conditions because people don’t usually soak their teeth in a liquid for ten hours at a time.

However, popular drinks such as coffee, tea and wine, as well as other habits such as smoking, are known to stain teeth.

In most cases, discoloration is purely a cosmetic problem and does not indicate problems with the teeth themselves. It can remove most discolorations.

But persistently yellow teeth can be a sign that people are brushing too quickly after consuming acidic foods such as fruits or drinks, such as Coca Cola.

This is because acidic products can weaken the white enamel in the teeth for a short period of time.

Brushing teeth in this weakened state can expose the slightly yellower part of the tooth, called dentin, changing the overall shade.

Certain medications, such as the antibiotic tetracycline, are also known to change the color of teeth due to an interaction with saliva causing the teeth to turn brown or gray.

While most tooth color changes are nothing to worry about, dentists advise people to pay attention to one change in particular.

They say that if a tooth, or sometimes several teeth, turns gray, it could be a sign of nerve damage, and should be reported to a dentist.