What causes teeth discoloration?

Extrinsic tooth discoloration: This is when the enamel gets stained from smoking or from certain food and drink. Whitening products with a low concentration bleaching formulation can usually clear these stains.

1. The Most Common Reason

Foods and drinks like tea, coffee, and alcohol can be removed by hand scaling when you visit the dentist. However, if these stains have developed over a period of years then they may be more difficult to remove and bleaching will be necessary.

2. Tobacco

If you smoke or chew tobacco then you might also notice brown or black stains on the surface of your teeth. Nicotine stains are some of the toughest to remove, so you might need to visit your dentist a few times before they’re completely gone.

3. Citrus Fruit

Eating too many citrus fruits, like lemon and oranges, can also cause your teeth to get discolored. The best option is to gargle every time you eat citrus.

4. Rinsing Your Mouth

Rinsing your mouth excessively can cause discoloration on your teeth. For example, prescription mouth washes including chlorhexidine can create brown-yellow surface stains. Iodine solutions can cause light brown or yellow looking stains, and stannous fluoride can do the same.

5. Dental Restorative Solutions

Some dental restorative materials can cause the teeth next to them to go black or gray, such as the amalgam contained in silver-colored fillings.

6. Plaque and Tartar

Accumulation of these two substances can alter the way your teeth look.

7. Intrinsic Tooth Stains

These stains happen when the dentin of the teeth gets darker or becomes yellow. Fluorosis/ tetracycline stains are an example. Intrinsic stains need to be removed using high concentration whitening products that can change the natural color of the teeth.

8. Medication

Some forms of medication, including the tetracycline and minocycline forms of antibiotics, can work their way into the tooth’s structure, creating intrinsic staining of the teeth and making them go brown-gray in color. During the stages of tooth formation, from the 4^th month of pregnancy until 7 years of age, the use of tetracycline should be avoided.

9. Systemic Disorders

Erythropoietic porphyria, alkaptonuria, hyperbilirubinemia and others can all cause stains on teeth. Discoloration can sometimes be a result of enamel hypoplasia, and some children can be born with gray, purple or amber discolorations if they have dentinogenesis imperfect.

10. Fluorosis

Excessive fluoride intake can lead to brown marks or white spots on the teeth. These white spots can’t be removed, but they’ll be less noticeable after the background of the tooth has been whitened.

11. Root Canal Treatment

Teeth can become darker after root canal treatment, especially if the area was not properly cleaned from the infected or dead pulp tissue.

The Procedure for Teeth Whitening

“Teeth whitening procedure” can, in fact, refer to a number of different techniques. Some of the most common options include mild acid whitening, chemical whitening, laser whitening and abrasive teeth whitening.

If you want to get the teeth whitening procedure performed by a dentist then you’ll need to make sure you can get time off work for the appointment. They will schedule a consultation with you before any procedure can start. They will check for any medical reasons behind your tooth discoloration and perform the cleaning necessary. Teeth whitening this way could cost as much as $1000.

A cheaper teeth whitening option is to perform the whitening at home but under supervision of a dentist. This kind of procedure makes use of a custom made mouth tray to make sure that the right amount of whitening solution is applied throughout the process. Application of the gel is done by you at home, but the mouth tray may have to be worn for a number of hours and, in some cases, all night long. You’ll still need to go back to the dentist regularly to keep your teeth white, and the cost could be anywhere from $300 - $800.