“What can i do if I have yellow teeth?” “My teeth are so yellow, what options are available now?”
Believe it or not we get asked this on a regular and daily basis and i guess how we deal with it really depends on what causes it in the first place. In terms of causes there are generally two types of causes that leaves stains on teeth:
- Extrinsic Stains:
- Basically, anything external or anything outside of the mouth that's causing it to stain on the tooth itself. This includes:
- wine
- tea
- coffee
- turmeric
- in most curries and
- sometimes lip stick
- Basically, anything external or anything outside of the mouth that's causing it to stain on the tooth itself. This includes:
- Intrinsic Stains:
- Essentially anything that's internally within the tooth itself
- In most cases when intrinsic stains are present, there is a probability that you were born with it
- It's probably embedded in the tooth so much that generally intrinsic stains are a lot harder to address than extrinsic stains
Those two causes are basically chalk and cheese and they're very different. The way you approach it really depends on what's causing it as I mentioned earlier. But for today's purposes of the video, we'll talk a little bit more about extrinsic stains. We will furthermore touch base on intrinsic stains in the next video.
How Can I Fix Extrinsic Stains?
- Whitening Toothpaste:
- Did you know whitening toothpaste is easily accessible? Pop down to your local Woolworths and head down the toothpaste aisle. There are so many options that you may get overwhelmed with the different types of different brands, shapes and colourss etc.
- Upside: easily accessible, cheaper as well in general
- Downside: The whitening component comes from a silica (fine little grit that you find in the toothpaste itself) and sometimes comes with aluminium oxide. There’s many other different brands and active ingredients out there aswell.
- But if you think about, your toothpaste has a gritty component and you're brushing it over your tooth which acts like as though you’re sandpapering your tooth.
- This is essentially how it works as it rubs off the external stains there but at the same time, the problem is again is that you know you can't control how much you take off so you might also take off a bit of tooth structure along with it.
- So in some cases we find that some patients have thinner teeth and sensitivity present which can last for long durations.
- Activated Charcoal:
- Another popular option which you’ve probably heard about is charcoal toothpaste.
- good thing is it's cheap again it's easily accessible
- the downside is most likely the colour and taste
- it also uses the same principle as what a whitening toothpaste would do by using bicarb soda which contain little particles that wear off or take off the external stains and to reveal the slightly whiter bits underneath
- as mentioned above, this method also acts as a method of sandpapering your tooth which can have long term consequences
- Professional Whitening:
- Professional whitening from your dental clinic
- Downside: Cost & temporary sensitivity
- Upside: Whiten the teeth inside out and it doesn't take away any tooth structure and you know it works.
So I guess when it comes to professional whitening there are two forms two very general forms of whitening
- Take Home Kits:
- Upside: Cheaper
- Downside: Takes time 1-3 weeks to get desired results
- Custom moulded trays filled with special gels
- Pop in the trays and leave overnight, or during the day (depending on which special gel you have)
- In-Chair Whitening:
- Upside: Quick and Instant: 45 min to 1.5 hours. Take home whitening kit included complimentary at Tooth Heaven.
- Downside: More expensive. Increased chance of sensitivity.
Sensitivity Associated with Professional Whitening Methods
Sensitivity can be managed and it's only transient (for a short time) with the Zoom whitening we use at Tooth Heaven, there are desensitizing products in the kit that help reduce the sensitivity quite a bit, and these are provided to you.
The obvious upside is that In-Chair whitening is quick & it's instant. 45 minutes you walk in with yellow teeth walk out with white teeth right away.
The other good thing is depending on where you go to receive the treatment, at Tooth Heaven we provide the take home kits complimentary, as well as the In-Chair, so you basically get two for the price of one.
How long will the whitening results last?
The answer to the question is depends on what you eat, for example the day after you get your whitening treatment. If you drink 10 cups of coffee, obviously, its not going to stay as white as your initial results. This is where the take home kit comes in handy, if you do consume a lot of food and drink that stains you can continue treatment at home as a refresher for those superficial stains.
Those are the three general ways of whitening and a quick summary of it. Until the next video speak again soon bye now
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