7 Surprising Reasons for Tooth Discolouration

Yellow teeth are considered unsightly and usually related to poor dental hygiene, yet tooth discolouration can happen to anyone. Often, it is people with great hygiene who brush, rinse, and floss regularly who still wake up with yellow teeth.

This is because poor dental hygiene is only one of many reasons why your teeth are darkening. Below, let’s explore some of the other reasons to dispel some of the stigma associated with yellow teeth.

First, it’s important to understand that tooth discolouration falls into three categories: intrinsic, age-related and extrinsic. The former refers to reasons pertaining to your health, the age-related one suggests teeth discolouration that happens as you get older, and the last one is about external staining factors.

1. Tobacco

One of the largest factors that affect the colour of your teeth is smoking. According to studies, smokers tend to have worse looking teeth than non-smokers, even though their oral hygiene routine is the same. Chewing tobacco can also be a culprit.

2. Staining Foods

Coffee, tea, red wine and even chocolate all have an impressive staining capacity. That is why people who tend to drink more coffee also tend to have yellow or even brown teeth.

3. Age-Related Discolouration

Age-related discolouration is an umbrella term that covers both intrinsic and extrinsic discolouration reasons. These factors, combined with the fact that the protective enamel of our teeth grows weaker as you age, results in stained teeth.

4. Too Much Fluoride

Interestingly, your conventional toothpaste may also be discolouring your teeth. This is one of the intrinsic reasons for tooth discolouration.

Many toothpastes contain fluoride, a damaging chemical said to clean your mouth, can lead to a grayish discolouration from inside the tooth. Fluoride is also often found in tap water.

5. Genetics

Sometimes, genes are a factor. Some people inherit thicker or thinner enamel, and this can affect the way your teeth colour responds to other external or internal factors.

6. Mouth Rinses

Certain rinsing ingredients, like chlorhexidine and cetylpyridinium chloride, can also attack the enamel of your teeth. The result can be tooth discolouration. Using the best tooth brush or electric tooth brush will make a big difference to oral health. Find out more with this Oral B Genius X LUXE review.

7. Medication

Some antibiotics, as well as other medication, can affect the colour of your teeth from the inside out. A few examples are anti-psychotics, anti-hypertension drugs, and antihistamines.

What Can You Do?

Seeing a mouthful of yellow teeth in the mirror can really damage your self-confidence. Thankfully, stained teeth don’t have to be a permanent problem.

Professional teeth whitening procedures are available at a family dentist near Beaconsfield. This type of quality service can restore your self-confidence in addition to improving tooth appearance.

Other measures you can take to preserve the natural colour of your teeth are to cut back as much as possible on tobacco, caffeine and other staining agents. You might consider switching to a fluoride-free natural toothpaste too.

You can also ask your dentist if they can prepare a special whitening tray for you to wear at home. Perhaps most important of all, learn to let go of the misconception that darkened teeth automatically mean bad hygiene; as the information above shows, that is simply not the case.