Dentures: Facts, Figures and Friendly Advice for Seniors

Different Forms of Teeth Staining and How to Remedy Them

13 April 2016

Herman Kim

One of the most common complaints for adults, when it comes to their oral health, is the colour of their teeth. This is because teeth staining is a common affliction faced by people. Teeth staining is caused by a variety of reasons. The severity as well as the cause will determine what type of treatment that your dentist will recommend. Here are some of the different forms of teeth staining and how to remedy them.

Intrinsic teeth staining

Intrinsic teeth staining is inherent. This type of teeth staining affects the dentin in your teeth, which is a tissue that lies below the layer of enamel on your teeth. Once the dentin begins to change colour, you will notice that the enamel will stop being as bright as it would be. There are a number of reasons that you could develop intrinsic teeth staining ranging from different types of medication to trauma to your teeth. Since the stains come from inside the tooth, it is impossible to try to eliminate them using whitening toothpaste that only acts on the enamel of your teeth.

Instead, it would be best to seek professional tooth whitening from a dentist. This is because treatment would require penetrating right to the dentin to brighten it. Alternatively, the dentist may opt for other treatment methods such as crowns or dental bonding, which are applied onto the surface of your tooth. These crowns and dental bonding work to camouflage the appearance of intrinsic teeth staining.

Extrinsic teeth staining

This is the opposite of intrinsic teeth staining, whereby the staining occurs on the tooth enamel. Extrinsic teeth staining is one of the more common reasons why adults may seek teeth whitening. This is because the enamel comes into contact with everything that you ingest. As such, it is more likely to acquire stains simply based on your eating habits. One of the easiest way of combatting extrinsic teeth staining is through the use of at-home products such as whitening toothpaste or over the counter whitening kits.

However, if this does not seem to suffice, then you should consider setting up a dental appointment to address the teeth staining. In some cases, a thorough dental cleaning may be sufficient to return your enamel to its previous glory. However, in cases where the staining is severe, you may have to consider laser teeth whitening procedures. To avoid further extrinsic teeth staining, you may have to make changes in both your diet as well as lifestyle. This is to decrease exposure of your tooth enamel to excessive pigmentation from various substances.  

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