A smile can brighten your day and boost your confidence, but achieving that shiny grin can sometimes feel challenging. Over time, teeth can become stained or discoloured, but cosmetic dentistry offers options to help restore and enhance your smile.
Teeth whitening services are offered in-office, but there are a few other ways to keep your teeth white and bright at home, including:
- Regular brushing and flossing
- Avoiding smoking
- Using special whitening trays
Why Do Teeth Become Discoloured?
Your teeth can become stained or discoloured for various reasons, often tied to daily habits and lifestyle choices.
Stains
Food and drinks like dark berries, coffee, tea, red wine, and soda are notorious for staining teeth. Their pigments can stick to the enamel and lead to discolouration over time.
Smoking or chewing tobacco can also cause significant staining. Tar and nicotine adhere to teeth, causing them to turn yellow or brown over time.
Enamel Wear
The outermost part of teeth is made up of enamel, which is nearly white and protects the tooth’s inner structures. When the enamel starts to wear away, it exposes the dentin underneath—a yellow-brown tissue—and causes the teeth to appear darker.
Factors like acidic foods, gum disease, and age can erode tooth enamel.
Why Are My Teeth Yellow if I Brush Them Everyday?
Even the most diligent brushes and flossers can have yellow teeth. Genetics also play a role in determining your enamel’s natural colour and thickness. Thicker enamel appears whiter, while thinner enamel reveals more of the yellowish dentin.
Your enamel also wears down over time. While acidic foods and drinks can accelerate this process, age and genetics can contribute to enamel wear. Other dental concerns and health conditions can also lead to enamel erosion.
As enamel wears down, the dentin beneath becomes more exposed, making it susceptible to discoloration. This connection highlights how intrinsic stains develop, as the compromised enamel allows the underlying dentin to become stained over time.
Because the dentin is tucked beneath the enamel, intrinsic stains are harder to remove and typically won’t be resolved by simple brushing and flossing.
Can Yellow Teeth Become White Again?
Yellow and discoloured teeth can often be whitened professionally. In some cases, you can also achieve a brighter smile at home.
In-office whitening treatments often yield fast results, usually brightening teeth in just one session.
However, there are also several at-home remedies for discoloured teeth.
Practice Good Oral Hygiene
The first thing you can do is brush regularly and properly. Using a soft-bristled toothbrush, clean the front, back, and top sides of all your teeth. Pay special attention to the gum line, cleaning the entire surface of each tooth.
Flossing once a day helps you reach places your toothbrush can’t. It also helps remove plaque between your teeth and under the gumline.
Don’t forget to clean your tongue! Bacteria can accumulate on your tongue and transfer to your teeth, sometimes leading to stains. Cleaning your tongue helps eliminate bacteria, prevent stains, and keep your breath fresh.
Avoid Smoking
Smoking or chewing tobacco can stain the teeth. Smoking can also significantly affect your oral health, putting you at higher risk of developing gum disease and other dental concerns.
E-cigarettes, which often don’t contain tobacco, still contain nicotine. This substance reduces saliva production and can accelerate tartar buildup and bacteria.
Try Baking Soda
Another way to whiten teeth at home is to brush them with baking soda. Some whitening toothpastes contain baking soda to tackle stains.
Baking soda has gentle abrasive properties that help remove surface stains. To use this method, mix equal parts of baking soda and water to form a paste. You can brush your teeth with this paste for a minute before rinsing with water.
While baking soda won’t show dramatic results, the mildly abrasive properties of baking soda can help reduce stains.
Use Whitening Trays
There are over-the-counter products to brighten teeth, such as whitening toothpaste, rinses, and strips. These products typically contain hydrogen peroxide to lighten tooth colour.
Customized plastic trays can also help whiten teeth. Your dentist can take an impression of your teeth and craft plastic trays based on the impressions. Whitening trays are an effective way to brighten your smile gradually.
What Do Dentists Use to Whiten Teeth?
Professional whitening techniques use different substances than over-the-counter whitening products. Dentists also take proper measures to isolate your teeth and prevent your gums, tongue, and other oral tissues from coming into contact with the lightening agent.
By mixing hydrogen peroxide and potassium nitrate, these 2 ingredients react with each other and yield an effective whitening agent.
What Is the Yellow Stuff on My Teeth That Won’t Come Off?
Other than stains, plaque and tartar can also accumulate on your teeth.
Plaque is a sticky substance that forms on teeth every day. It is colourless but can cause teeth to appear discoloured as food sticks to it.
When plaque isn’t removed through regular brushing and flossing, it hardens into tartar. Hardened plaque can no longer be removed by brushing or flossing, requiring a dentist or dental hygienist to remove it for you.
Tartar may look yellow, brown, or even black. This also absorbs stains more easily, and highly pigmented foods and beverages can cause tartar to darken. Neglecting dental hygiene can also lead to tooth decay, discolouring the teeth and causing other complications.
Regular dental cleanings remove plaque and tartar buildup. Dental cleanings and exams also monitor your dental hygiene and can provide guidance to keep your teeth healthy in between visits.
How Do I Prevent Teeth From Staining?
Maintaining proper dental hygiene and habits can prevent your teeth from staining in the first place. Here are some effective tips to help keep your smile bright:
- Brush your teeth twice daily, paying close attention to the gums and the back of your teeth.
- Use floss to clean between the teeth where a toothbrush can’t reach.
- Brush your teeth after consuming pigmented foods and drinks to help prevent stains.
- Drink and swish water to rinse away particles when brushing isn’t possible.
- Schedule regular dental exams and cleanings to address plaque and tartar buildup, which in turn helps prevent stains.
By following these simple yet effective practices, you can maintain a healthy, stain-free smile.
Bright, Healthy Smiles
The truth is that teeth stains can affect our confidence. Good oral hygiene and regular dental check-ups help keep your smile bright and maintain your confidence. Plus, they support your oral health.
If you’re looking for a whitening treatment, contact our team at Markham Dental Smiles today. We can evaluate your dental health and help your pearly whites shine.
