Even with good oral hygiene your teeth can still become stained, so don’t worry if you see a slight discolouration!
There are a lot of factors that could be the cause of discolouration, both external (like food etc) and internal (damage to the internal layers of the teeth, like dentine).
External Factors
This is where the staining is on the outer surface of the teeth, usually caused by what we eat. The more we eat the worse it gets, unfortunately it’s the food and drinks we love that are the worse for our teeth!
Food and drinks such as;
- Tea and coffee (we know, we wish we could say this was fine)
- Tobacco
- Red wine
- Carbonated soft drinks and energy drinks
- Curry
There are lots more but these are the main ones that we can try and avoid or at least cut down on if we can. Staining caused from food and drinks can be removed quite easily!
Internal Factors
The inner layer of the teeth, the dentine, can be stained by health-related factors, if the enamel has been worn away this makes the discolouration more noticeable.
Causes such as:
- Excessive fluoride consumption when young
- Some medications like antihistamines, antibiotics, and others
- Nerve damage which causes trauma to the tooth
- Tooth decay
- Genetics
Unfortunately, these are harder to sort but can be done here at Ewan Bramley.
How to make my teeth whiter
We would always recommend coming in to see one of our dentists or hygienists, they will be able to assess your teeth and give you the best treatment options.
Trying to self-diagnose and using treatments will either have no impact or could make it worse. We would not recommend buying whitening kits that aren’t prescribed by one of our dentists or hygienists as they are usually too weak or way too strong, which is illegal! Whitening kits that are too strong are more likely to cause burns to your gums!
If your staining is caused by food and drinks, regular visits with our hygienists can solve that. They can give your teeth a good clean leaving them nice and white, they will also give you personalised advice on maintaining good oral hygiene.
Our hygienists can also provide you with a professional tooth whitening kit (additional cost or free if you’re on one of our monthly dental plans) to make your teeth a little whiter if you wanted.
If the staining is a little more complicated and is due to internal factors, our dentists can whiten the teeth on the inside or recommend veneers.
As before, we always recommend coming in to see our team and seeing what the best options are for you! A good level of oral hygiene always helps keeping your teeth bright and healthy, we’ve written a post of the 5 common mistakes while brushing your teeth, give it a read for some good tips!
