Are you reluctant to smile because of your yellow teeth?
Tooth discoloration does not allow people to feel confident in their skin. Hence, you may be hiding your smile unintentionally.
A white smile is everyone’s wish but daily activities, food consumption or age can cause your teeth to stain more.
Hence, it is hard to maintain white teeth for long. Unless you bring a change in your lifestyle or go for a whitening treatment.
This article discusses how you can whiten your yellow teeth and what steps you can take to prevent it.
Discoloration of Your Teeth
The color of your teeth changes because of extrinsic and intrinsic stains.
Extrinsic stains form because of eating and drinking colored foods and beverages. Hence, they are food stains that discolor teeth because of improper oral care routine and compromised oral health.
They can also result from smoking. More on this later!
Intrinsic stains happen because of an injury, age, or medications. They affect the dentin which is under the enamel. Hence, these stains are harder to remove.
Discoloration can be due to both intrinsic and extrinsic stains but you can only try removing extrinsic ones on your own.
Let’s discuss the different kinds of discoloration below.
Single Tooth Staining
It is rare to see discoloration in one tooth.
This is usually because of an injury or trauma. If the surfaces are uneven after the injury then the teeth stain yellow.
If the iron in the blood saturates the tooth then it turns dark in color.
Purple Color
Another rarity is having an amber or purple hue on your teeth.
This happens because of a tooth development disease known as dentinogenesis imperfecta.
Brown Color
A brown and more so a yellowish-brown hue on your teeth is due to smoking.
Colorless nicotine mixes with oxygen to produce a yellow color and stain the tooth enamel.
The tiny pores in teeth absorb the staining particles in nicotine and tobacco.
One way to get rid of these stains is to quit smoking.
However, smoking may not be the only culprit. Staining foods and drinks turn your teeth yellow and regular consumption, worsens the color from yellow to brown.
Moreover, it is also a result of plaque and tartar buildup on the teeth.
If you do not remove plaque by following proper oral hygiene then it accumulates as tartar and you can only remove it through professional teeth cleaning and dental zoom whitening.
Black
This discoloration is due to chewing betel nuts, having tooth decay or taking iron and magnesium supplements.
Gray
Some may genetically have bluish-gray teeth though they can also occur because of the use of the antibiotic tetracycline.
Especially if your mother took it while you were in the womb then you are likely to grow teeth with blue-gray stripes inside them.
Hence, it is difficult to simply brush them and children under 8 years should not take tetracyclines neither should pregnant women.
White Spots
Excessive fluoride exposure at a young age can form white spots on teeth known as fluorosis.
Hence, children are not given fluoride toothpaste especially if they have fluoridated water.
Though, it is also a symptom of cavities as it indicates decalcification of the enamel and the loss of calcium in the tooth.
Some of these causes also apply to the yellow hue on your teeth. Keep reading below to know more of these.
Yellow Teeth Causes
The extrinsic discoloration on your tooth enamel is either because of food or smoking.
Foods such as berries, beverages, for instance, coffee, tea, red wine, dressings like balsamic vinegar and soy sauce can all stain your teeth over time.
Regularly consuming them can cause your teeth to develop a yellow hue. Furthermore, not taking care of brushing teeth and flossing can also discolor them.
The regular buildup of plaque and tartar on your enamel can not only cause cavities and gum disease but first will stain your teeth yellow.
Smoking also stains your teeth intrinsically, however, it is much harder to remove smoking stains than it is to remove other extrinsic yellow stains.
You may also genetically inherit a thinner enamel. A thin enamel stains easily as it exposes the yellow dentin underneath.
The dentin is originally light yellow at birth however, it gets darker with age. Let’s discuss this and other intrinsic causes behind your yellow discoloration below.
Intrinsic Stains Causes
The dentin gets darker with age and the enamel weakens. Enamel thinning exposes the dentin and the color you see on your teeth is actually the dentin’s color.
The dentin grows with age making the pulp’s size smaller. This darkens the tooth making it look less translucent.
You may inherit a thick enamel, similarly, you may also inherit a thinner enamel.
You cannot fight genes and having a naturally thinner enamel will make you prone to more discoloration.
The use of Tetracycline and doxycycline antibiotics affects the formation of enamel in young children.
Hence, if children under the age of 8 years old take it then it results in discoloration. Moreover, pregnant women taking these antibiotics can affect the teeth of their children in the future.
Similarly, antihypertensive drugs and antipsychotic medicines can cast a hue on the enamel.
The use of mouthwashes with the chemical compounds chlorhexidine and cetylpyridinium chloride are responsible for staining.
Treatment of certain cancers that uses radiation and chemotherapy to treat the head and neck region can discolor teeth.
Injury or trauma to any of your teeth will leave it dark and discolored. If the blood flow decreases to a specific tooth or a nerve dies then it will turn dark.
Also if children under 8 get a sports injury, then it may weaken their enamel formation resulting in enamel thinning.
The cracks, fractures and uneven tooth surfaces will stain the teeth easily.
These are a few of the main reasons why your teeth become yellow over time or suddenly.
Now you must be thinking about how do you treat these existing yellow teeth and how to prevent them from darkening further? We have you covered below!
Yellow Teeth Treatment: At-Home
You can stop the discoloration of your teeth by beginning now. At this stage, you can prevent them from worsening further and forming a stubborn brown stain.
First, begin by cutting down on food, drinks or habits that you know can stain your teeth.
Teeth grinding unconsciously or consciously can weaken your enamel over time, making it more susceptible to staining.
Similarly, smoking and not brushing twice a day can leave a yellow-brown stain.
Brush properly two times a day and floss once a day regularly.
This removes any stuck food particles that can accumulate as plaque on teeth.
Quitting smoking is good for your overall health but also for your teeth.
It not only prevents staining but also bad breath.
Next, you can reduce the foods and drinks you know will cause your teeth to stain.
These include your morning coffee and evening tea.
Similarly, limit the use of dressing and your intake of alcoholic drinks like red wine and white wine.
You can also try at-home whitening treatments.
This includes whitening strips, whitening gels and mouth trays.
Pour whitening gel containing peroxide base in a mouth tray and wear it for 30 minutes.
Likewise, wear whitening strips containing gel with peroxide base for 10 to 15 minutes daily.
You will see a visible change in the shade of your teeth in 2 weeks. These results can last long for 4 months.
Furthermore, you can use home remedies like baking soda and oil pulling.
Though, there is not enough evidence to support if they work properly.
You can also visit your dentist for whitening especially in the case of intrinsic discoloration.
Dental Treatments
For intrinsic stains and targeting the enamel as well as the dentin, you will need professional dental whitening in Dubai.
Among dental whitening, you have the option of choosing laser dental whitening or Teeth whitening Zoom in Al Wasl.
Zoom whitening gives you about 8 times whiter shade of teeth in one session. It evenly whitens all your teeth to the same shade.
The peroxide gel has a much higher concentration than the bleaching agents in over-the-counter kits.
Hence, they work fastly and delivers oxygen deeper into the dentin to get rid of the yellow stain.
An additional special light can further increase the efficacy of the process.
Whereas laser dental whitening is better for targeting specific teeth rather than all of them.
Other than teeth whitening, you can go for dental treatments that change the look of your teeth.
This includes crowns, bonding and veneers.
Bonding is attaching a white resin to your tooth and hardening it using a special light. Hence, it gives your tooth a layer of resin to improve the structure and look.
Next, you can get veneers in Dubai that cover the front of your teeth. These shells are tooth-colored and cover the part of the tooth as can be seen by others.
However, they are very delicate so you should be careful while biting hard food.
Crowns cover your teeth, protect and them restore them. Moreover, they can be custom-made so that the color matches the rest of your teeth.
Your dentist may also recommend you a whitening toothpaste to remove surface stains.
This way you can get rid of the yellowness in your teeth and get white dental crowns to get a Hollywood smile in Al Wasl.
Yellow teeth are natural but can be bothersome and embarrassing. Hence, it is better to whiten them so that you can smile brightly.
