Three Sneaky Ways You're Staining Your Teeth

Swimming in a pool—especially on hot summer days—sipping wine or soda, and opting for a cup of tea vs. coffee to kick your day off right might all be awesome ideas, but they all have the capacity to stain your teeth. Really? Yes. Really. 

With Memorial Day coming around the corner, we suggest keeping your mouth closed when taking a swim in the pool. "I see this mostly in avid swimmers, but pool water can create spots on your teeth called swimmers calculus," says Beverly Hills-based cosmetic dentist Kevin B. Sands, DDS, who tends to the teeth of a ton of celebrities, including former Cosmo cover girls Miley Cyrus and Kim Kardashian. "What happens is the high pH of the chemicals in the pool water causes the proteins in your teeth to harden into a dark brown tartar. And to remove the stains, professional whitening is required." No bueno.

Another surprising way you can wreak havoc on your pearly whites without knowing it: We all know that dark-colored sodas and red wine can stain your teeth, but clear soda and white wine can also do some damage. "Lighter colored beverages are acidic and chromagen-rich and can cause significant staining," says Sands. "The acidity softens the tooth enamel and then sets the stage for further staining."

Lastly, if prefer tea over coffee, don't think you're exempt from staining. "Black tea, for example, is rich in stain-promoting tannins that can cause worse staining than coffee. Try sipping these drinks [and the ones above] through a straw to minimize the amount of liquid that's actually coming into contact with your teeth," advises Sands.

For more ways to score whiter teeth (and keep them that way), click here.

Photo: Getty Image

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PSS Tip of the Week: Beware of Sneaky Salon UV Rays

August 17, 2012 at 4:57PM By Annie Daly |

Those nail dryers at the salon? Yeah, not so good for your skin. They give off a small amount of ultraviolet radiation every time you use them, which builds up over time and can eventually cause skin damage.

But don't worry, you don't have to put your salon days behind you. Just switch to quick-dry polish instead of the regular kind. That way, you can skip the UV dryer and just sit under a fan for 10 minutes, since your nails are practically dry anyway.

Or, if you’re a gel manicure girl, find a salon that uses not-as-harmful LED lamps instead of UV dryers to set the gel. LED lamps generally require only about 30 seconds to set gel, as compared to UV dryers, which can take up to three minutes.

Want more tips on how to protect your skin? Click here for info on Cosmo's Practice Safe Sun campaign.

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Sneaky Stuff His Body Language Reveals

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A Sneaky Way To Get a Guy To Help Out

Ever wonder how a guy can spend an afternoon trading insults with his friends and then act like a complete sweetheart in your presence? Yeah, it’s not him; it’s you.  

According to a new study from Britain’s University of Oxford and Amsterdam’s VU University, guys are on their best behavior when, ahem, attractive women are around.  

Okay, it’s not rocket science that guys would want to behave when they’re near pretty women, but researchers also found that men do more kind and selfless things when gorgeous girls are around.

For the experiment, men and women anonymously played a game where they could donate money via a computer to a group fund. The players didn’t know who they were playing with, but they were observed by a good-looking member of the same sex or opposite sex.

When guys played in front of a hot woman, they donated significantly more money than when they played in front of another dude. Women, on the other hand, weren’t influenced when a hot guy watched them play.

During a second round, the men were put into groups and asked to make several public donations. Again, they donated more cash when they did it in front of a good-looking woman, but this time they ended up competing with each other to see who could fork over the most money.

Basically, science is telling us that if you want a guy to donate to your charity 5k or help you move apartments, it can’t hurt to throw on a cute outfit beforehand. And if you want to recruit an army of men, ask one guy to help out in front of his friends. They’ll all volunteer.

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The Sneaky Reason You May Be Gaining Weight

If this doesn’t motivate you to get your full 8 hours every night, we don’t know what will: New research suggests that we’re way more likely to binge eat after an evening of crappy sleep.

Scientists at Uppsala University in Sweden found that the region of your brain that registers hunger is hypersensitive to the thought of food when you’re sleep-deprived, as opposed to when you’ve had a full night’s rest.

In the study, the researchers took brain MRIs of participants as they stared at pictures of various foods, comparing those who were fully rested with those who’d pulled all-nighters. Turns out, the food porn sparked way more activity in the appetite-stimulating part of the brain for the second group than it did for the first group. Yeah, that’s right—when you’re zonked and running on fumes, even a picture of that oversized chocolate chunk cookie is enough to get your tummy rumbling.

That’s definitely a good thing to be aware of if you’re a repeat insomniac, or the type to stay up super late. You may be giving in to those next-day food cravings without even realizing it, and a few sleepless nights a week could make you pack on weight pretty quickly. So call it a night after Revenge instead of staying up to watch The Daily Show...ladies, that’s what your DVR is for.

Do you notice that you tend to eat more when you haven’t slept well?

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