Teeth Staining: Common Causes and How To Prevent It
Almost everyone encounters some type of teeth staining in their life. Whether you're starting to notice a yellow tint to your smile or you have a noticeable dark brown spot near your gums, these marks are definitely a cause for concern.
Typically, this is just a sign of poor dental hygiene. If you don't like the shade of your teeth, an upgraded dental routine and maybe some whitening products can help you get rid of the exterior stain.
However dark spots or yellow stains that don't seem to be affected by your impeccable teeth-cleaning regime means that the stain has moved beyond a surface level, and you may need to contact your dental provider for some assistance.
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Different Types of Stains
At Downtown Dentist SF, the first thing we would do before recommends a teeth-staining removal method is figure out the literal root of the cause. The most simplistic and easily treatable stains are extrinsic, while the ones that require professional tools are intrinsic.
Extrinsic tooth stains: Affect the outer enamel of your tooth.
Intrinsic tooth stains: Affect your tooth's inner and outer portions, meaning over-the-counter products are probably not working for you.
Most of our patients assume that they have an extrinsic stain and ask for product recommendations or a teeth whitening treatment to reverse this problem. Unfortunately, intrinsic teeth staining is more common than you'd think.
In one study, 86.8% of patients had pulpal necrosis as the cause of their discolored teeth. Pulpal necrosis is the intrinsic or inward damage of the tooth, which means, you guessed it, teeth whitening can't help this type of stain.
What Causes Teeth Staining?
Let's discuss what causes extrinsic teeth staining. Your yellow teeth can be the result of:
Eating too many acidic foods
Consuming a lot of dark-colored beverages like red wine, coffee and black tea
Taking certain prescribed medications
Smoking or using tobacco products
When it comes to intrinsic tooth stains, you may notice that your tooth is more brown, black, or grey. This generally means you've experienced trauma to the tooth that is causing discoloration from inside all the way to your outer enamel.
The different causes we outlined above (tobacco products, medications, red wine, etc.) can potentially cause staining. However, it's more than likely that one or more of these is the culprit behind your discolored teeth:
Tooth decay
Plaque buildup
A festering cavity
Trauma to the tooth from a dental procedure or events such as a fall or car accident.
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How To Remove Teeth Stains
Most of our patients want to learn how to remove their teeth staining at home. While there are certainly methods to prevent tooth discoloration, chances are that you'll need a dental professional to do this for you.
But before you book a teeth whitening appointment, here's what you can do to prevent or completely get rid of your teeth stains:
At-Home Treatment
Ask your dentist which teeth whitening products can help your extrinsic stains. In some cases, you may want to consider getting a custom at-home teeth whitening trays from your dentist for faster and more noticeable results.
In-Office Teeth-Staining Treatment
We can prescribe the aforementioned at-home teeth whitening for outer yellow stains, which comes with a special gel that works with your fitted trays for an even white smile. But, if you want immediate and long-lasting results, we may recommend one of our teeth whitening specialists for an in-office whitening procedure.
If your tooth stain is the result of injury or trauma, we may need to perform additional procedures (such as a root canal) before we can treat the stain itself. Depending on the state of your tooth, we can then offer professional teeth whitening treatments, veneers, or crowns.
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Above all else, you should work actively to prevent teeth staining at home. This means brushing twice a day, flossing, and using mouthwashes and whitening products as directed by your dentist.
Not sure why you have teeth staining? Call Downtown Dentist SF to schedule an appointment so we can help you determine the right course of action!