Everyone loves white teeth and the beautiful smile that comes with it! This article explains everything you need to know about tooth staining, why it happens, and how to make your teeth white and stain-free.

Unfortunately, not everything we love, like chocolate, coffee, tea, tobacco etc is also suitable for our teeth and are known for staining them. Does that mean we should stop enjoying them? Of course not!

There are several ways to protect your teeth from getting stained. This article explains everything you need to know about tooth staining, why it happens, and how to make your teeth stain-free.

Why Do Teeth Get Stained?

When healthy, our teeth covered on the outside by a tough layer known as the dental enamel. It protects our teeth from becoming sensitive when we take hot or cold drinks. The enamel also gives our teeth the typical “pearly shine.” However, in cases when we neglect our oral hygiene, plaque and tartar deposits start to form on our teeth, which promote bacterial growth and result in the destruction of the enamel layer. As a result, not only our teeth become sensitive, but they also become more vulnerable to getting stained. Apart from this, teeth can also get stained when they get internally damaged as a result of a trauma or injury, or due to old age. Read more below on how to prevent teeth staining!

How to Prevent Teeth Staining?

Here are some suggestions for you, which will help you in maintaining pearly white teeth and a charming smile:

• Oral Hygiene Maintenance

This is your most potent defence against tooth stains. When you brush and floss regularly, plaque and tartar deposits do not adhere to your teeth, and the chances of staining are minimized. Make sure that you brush your teeth at least twice a day, floss once daily. More importantly, you must know the correct method of brushing your teeth. You can ask your dentist to teach you the technique for brushing teeth, which best suits your dental health needs.

• Water Can Prevent Stains

Who can say no to coffee or tea? It may be virtually impossible for us to cut down on the intake of our favourite drinks. But we can reduce tooth staining caused by these drinks by drinking water between successive sessions. Water has a cleansing and flushing action; when you drink water, it flushes away the drinks which could otherwise adhere to the tooth’s surface and cause staining. The best way is to alternate between a sip of water and your favourite beverage.

• Use a Straw

When we drink directly from a cup, our teeth come in direct contact with the beverages. The more the contact of the drinks with the tooth, the higher the chances of staining. You can easily avoid this by using a straw.

• Utilize the Power of Vegetables!

We all know that vegetables are good for the digestive system. But did you know that vegetables can help keep your teeth clean too? Yes, that’s true. Not just vegetables but fruits like strawberries and pineapples have a cleansing action; when you eat them, they tend to clean the surfaces of the teeth, thereby minimizing plaque and tartar deposition, and preventing staining of the teeth.

• Sugar-free Chewing Gums

Many people think that chewing gums are bad for the teeth! They are not, provided they do not contain sugar. In fact, eating sugar-free chewing gums has been proven to prevent plaque deposition, and helps in minimizing tooth staining. Chewing sugar-free gums has an added benefit of stimulating the salivary glands, which increases the salivary production and provides additional cleansing action.

• Visiting the Dentist

No matter how meticulous you are in taking care of your oral health, you may not be able to foresee all dental problems, especially teeth cavities. That is why dentists recommend that you should visit them at least twice a year for a routine check-up. If required, your dentist will perform teeth cleaning to remove plaque and tartar deposits that can promote tooth staining. So, dental check-up visits are not just necessary for ensuring that you have excellent dental health, but also to ensure that you retain pearly white, stain-free teeth throughout life.

Get whiter teeth at Regent Dental Practice in Cambridge

Until now, we have discussed methods for preventing tooth stains. But, what about a solution for cleaning already stained teeth?

Well, you have two options here; at-home and professional teeth whitening. While there are many teeth whitening products available in the market to remove stains from your teeth at home, they may not be as effective as the ones performed professionally by a dentist. Even the methods to whiten teeth using natural ingredients such as coconut oil and baking soda are not very useful. Other techniques involving the use of citric fruits or vinegar may prove dangerous as they can permanently damage the enamel and may cause the teeth to become sensitive. Therefore, if you have heavily stained teeth, your best bet is to visit a cosmetic dentist for teeth whitening.

During professional teeth whitening, your dentist will apply a very potent (but safe) bleaching agent on your teeth. The bleaching agent is activated by using an LED light, which results in the release of hydrogen peroxide that penetrates beneath the enamel layer of the teeth and chemically dissolves the stains. After a single tooth whitening appointment, you will feel a remarkable reduction in the shade of your teeth. For most patients, a single whitening is enough. However, some patients who have heavily stained teeth may require multiple sittings.

At Regent Dental, we realize that a healthy, lasting, and a beautiful smile cannot be achieved without having baby-white, shiny teeth. That is why we use the most effective teeth whitening formula for our esteemed patients, the Enlighten® whitening system. We will first give you custom moulds for your teeth, which will contain the whitening formula, and you will have to wear them for about two weeks overnight. Afterwards, we will set a 40-minute appointment with you for professional whitening. That’s it. See more in our services about teeth whitening.

Enjoy your pearly whites and dazzle your loved ones with your brand-new smile!