Understanding Tooth Stains

Before going into the details of tooth whitening, it helps to learn a little about tooth stains. What exactly are they?

Each of our teeth consists of an inner layer, dentin, and a hard outer later, enamel, protecting the teeth. When you put things in your mouth, be it drinks, cigarette smoke or food, another layer forms on top of this enamel layer. Eventually this foreign material will build up and form a pellicle film over the enamel layer.

Dentists can clear away this film through chemical treatments and scraping. Brushing your teeth will also get rid of some of it, and when you brush with an abrasive toothpaste, this works in a similar way as an abrasive pad works to clean a dish. Whitening toothpastes are designed to clean even harder in this way.

The problem occurs when the foreign material eventually gets into the tooth enamel, after the pellicle layer has been on the teeth for years. The enamel layer is made of hydroxyapatite crystals, which form microscopic hexagonal “rods”. Enamel is porous and this means that staining materials can work their way into the tooth, and won’t be able to be scoured away any more. These deeper stains don’t do harm, except for the fact that people find them unattractive.

This is why tooth whiteners are useful. They use bleaching chemicals that have the ability to get into the enamel and start a chemical reaction of oxidation, breaking apart the compounds responsible for the stain.

Most tooth whiteners are comprised of one of two main chemical agents: hydrogen peroxide (also used to bleach hair) or carbamide peroxide. When carbamide peroxide is used in the mouth, it breaks down into hydrogen peroxide and urea, and hydrogen peroxide is then the active whitening agent.

There are many ways to set off this whitening process.

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