Professional Teeth Whitening

Causes of Teeth Stains

Teeth stains occur for many reasons, including lifestyle choices, oral hygiene, medication use, and mouth trauma.

• Lifestyle choices: Smoking, chewing tobacco, consuming beverages like coffee, tea, sodas, and eating a few fruits and vegetables are proven to cause discoloration.
• Oral hygiene: Inadequate brushing poor dental hygiene can cause discolored teeth
• Medication: Certain kinds of medical treatments and drugs can cause discolored teeth.
• Trauma: Illness or disease that impacts enamel development in children or trauma to adult teeth can cause discolored teeth.

What are different Type of Tooth Stains?

Tooth stains can occur due to surface stains actual changes in your tooth material. Three main types of colors include:

• Extrinsic Teeth Stains:  Stains on the tooth's surface caused by lifestyle choices like smoking and chewing tobacco. This tooth stain responds well to regular dental cleaning and brushing the teeth with whitening toothpaste.
• Intrinsic Teeth Stains: A tooth stain that is staining below the tooth's surface occurs when stain-causing particles work through the tooth's exterior and accumulate within the tooth enamel. Excessive fluoride use in children is one of the major causes. This kind of tooth strain is trickier to remove and may require bleaching using professional or at-home chemical teeth-whitening products.
• Age-Related Teeth Stains: As we age, the enamel that covers the tooth becomes thinner, allowing the dentin to show through. The dentin, the darker tissue of your tooth, naturally yellows over time, causing teeth to discolor.

What are some of the Ways to prevent tooth stains?

You can keep your teeth healthy and stain-free by maintaining a good oral health routine. Good oral hygiene involves

• Brushing and flossing twice a day.
• Visiting your dentist twice-yearly,
• Limiting consumption of teeth-staining beverages.

How to remove tooth stains?

Knowing the type and cause of the stain can help figure out how to remove the stain.

Commercially available whitening toothpaste can remove stains and make teeth a few shades brighter. These mainly work on extrinsic tooth stains. However, this treatment might not always be effective and may wear away your tooth's enamel if the product is too abrasive or excessively used.

Whitening or bleaching agents can treat stains but might not be effective on all types of stains. They are also not effective on pitted or badly discolored teeth.

Professional whitening performed by the dentist is considered the most effective and safest method to remove stains. Such tooth whitening can last longer when maintained properly.