How do teeth get stained

Now that you have a better understanding of how do teeth get stained, you may consider treatment options. Often the best treatment is prevention. If your lifestyle involves activities that cause or contribute to staining, consider making changes.

For example, if you are a smoker then quitting will end one source of dental staining. If you drink coffee, consider cutting back or quitting. Some damages can be mitigated by rinsing your mouth after drinking coffee and limiting yourself to a cup in a short time period rather than sipping throughout the day. Talk with your dentist to see whether you may be a good candidate for stain-fighting toothpaste. Many whitening toothpastes are more abrasive than regular toothpaste and may even weaken enamel or cause sensitivity.

In recent years, charcoal toothpaste has been a craze on social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. In some cases, it helps remove stains, but charcoal is abrasive much like whitening toothpastes and sometimes it is even worse.

We recommend that you discuss this option with your dentist to make sure it is safe for your teeth. Your dentist may suggest other options if not.

For extrinsic stains, a professional dental cleaning often does the trick. Depending on your needs, your dentist may recommend anywhere from one to four or more professional cleanings.

Be sure to stick with your recommended schedule for healthy teeth, gums and a bright smile. Over the counter products like whitening strips and non-custom tray kits are inexpensive and convenient for some people.

They can work well in treating mild staining before a special event. However, they do not fit as well as a custom tray and it is easy to apply too much bleaching solution. In general, professional whitening is both safest and most effective. Sometimes people opt for professional laser whitening and some consider it the ultimate whitening treatment. Also, the results fade with time. We consider professionally-supervised tray whitening the gold standard due to the ease of application as well as the results.

We also use professional-grade whitening solution for the safest possible results. Now that you better understand how do teeth get stained, you are in a better position to take action. The first step is a professional dental examination and consultation.

For many people, a professional cleaning is also involved. Paul A. Research by Sagel and others have shown that some stain particles remain on the tooth enamel, while others work through the tooth enamel over time and set beneath the tooth surface, which creates dullness and tooth stain. Tooth color is subjective, and it can be hard to tell how well teeth-whitening products are working to remove or reduce teeth stains. A study in the Journal of Dentistry showed that even professionals disagree on tooth color when evaluating the same teeth, and a single professional can rate the whiteness of the same tooth differently on different occasions.

One method of evaluating the effectiveness of whitening products involves taking high-resolution digital images of teeth and assigning numerical values to describe the whitening effects three ways: a decrease in yellowness, decrease in redness, and an increase in lightness. While everyone knows you get better with age, tooth stains are one of the least-favorite body changes that take place during the aging process. In fact, one of the three main categories of tooth discoloration is age-related discoloration, which is a result of several factors.

This dentin also yellows naturally with age. In addition, years of drinking tea, coffee, dark sodas, and wine can cause progressive tooth stains over time. Finally, damage or injuries to your teeth, which occur over time throughout your life, cause discoloration that can become noticeable with age.

Fortunately, there are many treatment options for teeth stains. Keep your teeth healthy and looking great by maintaining a consistent oral health routine including twice-daily toothbrushing and daily flossing , twice-yearly visits to your dentist, and by limiting your consumption of teeth-staining beverages.