If your smile is looking a little dingy, it’s easy to blame coffee. The good news is that it can also be quite easy to get that white smile back.
Biggest stain-producers
While your daily coffee may be absorbed and settle in the porous, outer layer or tooth enamel, tea can also stain because it contains tannins. This substance is also found in wine, berries, and chocolates. Some tannin-containing fruit juices are a double-whammy, because they’re loaded with sugars which, when combined with mouth bacteria, produce acids.
It’s estimated up to 80 percent of children have dental erosion. Parents are well meaning; thinking they’re doing the healthy thing by giving their children fruit boxes instead of soda. Generally, the Smile Center encourages eating the actual fruit instead of drinking what may be very little actual fruit and many “fillers.” More nutrients are retained by eating an apple or grapes versus sugars marketed as “fruit juice.”
If you must drink your fruit, it’s best to drink it all at once rather than to sip slowly. Sipping, especially without a straw, is like bathing your teeth in acid. Habitual sippers may benefit from rinsing regularly with water to remove some of the destructive sugars that encourage decay and tooth loss.
Sports drinks are also associated with a healthy lifestyle, but are among the most acidic types of beverages. Furthermore, if drinks are consumed as designed during rigorous activities, the natural cleanser, saliva, is depressed due to dehydration and can make acidic effects more pronounced.
During regular check-ups and professional cleanings, the Smile Center team may identify ways to prevent further stains and damage, such as drinking and eating habits that influence the look and ultimately function of the teeth.
Additionally, Dr. Gordon Kent and his team can help you regain a luminous smile with the preferred NiteWhite treatment, which combines the best of both whitening worlds: The convenience of at-home products and the effectiveness of in-office bleaching. Whitening trays are customized to your mouth, so the bleaching agent is applied uniformly to the teeth. If budgetary concerns are keeping you from feeling better about your appearance, the Smile Center offers free teeth whitening for life for one low fee.
Alternative treatments
Most stains caused by food or drink will respond well to whitening treatments. As extrinsic discoloration, these stains are limited to the outer layer of the tooth. However, if discoloration is caused by excess fluoride or antibiotics use, stains may be resistant to in-office or take-home bleaching approaches. Intrinsic stains are particularly stubborn, because the inner structure of the tooth is affected.
The Smile Center has an answer to even the most stubborn stains in the form of veneers or facings bonded to the front of the teeth to cover up discoloration. Facings may reshape and reposition teeth and correct other imperfections such as chips. Plus, there is no need to wait for an outside lab to make facings as Dr. Kent and his team design and produce these and other restorations in-house.
Call to get (and keep) a better, brighter smile with teeth whitening and other cosmetic and/or proactive measures available in the Greater Buffalo NY area.