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When it comes to your smile, you may have a winning technique but a losing battle with yellowing teeth. Over the course of your lifetime, what started out as brilliant white has fallen victim to dark, staining drinks; acidic food that’s etched away enamel, nicotine, and just plain age.
Fortunately, there’s a huge market for teeth whitening, and men and women are running out to get a brighter and whiter smile. Healthline reports that in 2015 alone, Americans spent over $11 billion on teeth whitening products and treatments.
At Brooklyn City Dental in Brooklyn, New York, Our team provides comprehensive dental care to their patients including . That includes offering movie star-quality, in-office whitening, courtesy of Zoom, as well as at-home kits you can do at your own speed. Here’s what they want you to know about how to beat yellowing teeth.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, any tooth color other than white or yellowish-white is “abnormal.” Teeth can become discolored for many reasons, which may come from extrinsic or intrinsic factors or a combination of both.
Extrinsic stains affect the hard enamel that protects the teeth — for all its strength, enamel is easily stained. Lifestyle factors are the number one cause of extrinsic discoloration, including drinking stain-producing drinks like coffee, tea, red wine, and soda; eating dark fruits like cherries, blueberries, and pomegranates; and smoking or smoking chewing tobacco.
If you add acidic foods and drinks to the mix, the staining is worse since they etch the enamel, enabling pigments to stick much more easily. Fortunately, though, most extrinsic stains can be removed or reduced.
Intrinsic stains form on the tooth’s inner structure, called dentin, making them harder to remove than those on the surface. The yellowish stains can come from some medications and chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. In addition, age-related yellowing is a factor. Over time, the outer enamel thins, allowing the naturally yellowish dentin to show through.
According to the Mayo Clinic, encouraging saliva production can help you prevent thinning enamel. Saliva is a bath for the mouth, washing away plaque and food particles before they can stain the teeth surfaces.
All tooth whitening systems use a form of peroxide to bleach the teeth. Every drugstore has off-the-shelf varieties, but they usually contain little of the active ingredient or none; they can take months until you see even a small result; and the gel trays are one-size-fits-nobody, which can irritate your gums.
In contrast, in-office teeth whitening systems use custom-made trays with gels that are 15-43% peroxide; dentist-provided at-home kits use trays with gels that are 3-20% peroxide.
At Brooklyn City Dental, we’ve chosen the Zoom in-office teeth whitening system because not only is it safe, but it’s incredibly powerful, whitening your teeth by up to eight shades in a single visit.
If for whatever reason, you don’t want to do an in-office procedure, we have take-home kits, also manufactured by Zoom, that you can use in the comfort of your own home. Your results won’t be as immediate, but you’ll still be able to see dramatic changes within a few days to a couple of weeks.
If your yellow-tinged teeth are preventing you from smiling, we can help. Contact Brooklyn City Dental to learn more about our teeth whitening process. Call us at 718-383-0024, or schedule an appointment online today.
