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Comment by i-petko | Hacker News Reader

Anyone else had terrible teeth pigmentation when consuming yerba mate tea? I had tried using it for some time, but had to go to the dentist because my teeth where turning brown. After realizing that introducing the tea was the only change I made before the issue started, I stopped consuming and the issue was indeed solved.

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I'm from Argentina. We drink mate all the time. I never heard of (or experienced) teeth pigmentation issues caused by Yerba Mate. (yeah, I know it's a data point of one, but given the popularity and tradition of mate in the region, I think I'll hear about it if it's a common issue).

Assuming you are in the US. I notice that US products containing Yerba Mate (like tea bags or drinks) are heavily industrialized and have many other things besides Mate. I'll not discard the possibility of a problem caused by combining Yerba Mate with other chemicals.

Other than that is not different from coffee: drinking too much coffee without proper dental hygiene also affects teeth pigmentation.

I'm from Argentina and consume it on a regular basis. I haven't noticed any pigmentation, although I have the habit to rinse my mouth after finishing a cup of anything that's not water so that might be why.

You're almost certainly drinking the smoked leaves. Smokers teeth stain as well. I'd bet this is the culprit. Maybe try switching to unsmoked yerba mate?

Dentist feedback: yerba mate pigmentation could be clean with a typical prophylactic treatment.

For the non-dentists here, could you obese provide an example of a "typical prophylactic treatment"?

The professional teeth cleaning most folks with insurance can get 2-4 times annually with a dental hygenist - eg. Scaling and polishing.

Hey, we're just big-boned.

It means getting your teeth cleaned professionally

Definitely. Here in Brazil we brush our teeth 3 times every day (most people that I know). And I do this professional cleaning once in a year/2-years for other reasons as well. No issues. I drink since I was 7 y.o. (some decades counting from there).

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