Most of us desire to have a bright white smile. In fact, according to the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, virtually all American adults (over 99%) view a beautiful smile as an important social asset, and whiteness is a top contributing factor to an attractive smile.
Unfortunately, even if you tend to have naturally whiter teeth, they can lose their pearly shades of white over time for various reasons.
If gradual tooth discoloration has started to cause you emotional distress, Dr. Cliff Broschinsky and the rest of our cosmetic dentistry team at Avalon Dental want to review possible causes of discolored teeth and how we can help in this month’s blog.
In general, sources of tooth discoloration are divided into three main types: extrinsic, intrinsic, and age-related. Let’s take a close-up look at each one:
When you have extrinsic discoloration, it means that staining has only affected the outside layer of your teeth, or the enamel. The main causes of extrinsic teeth stains are food, drinks, and tobacco.
If you eat or drink large amounts of particularly staining foods and beverages, such as berries, red sauces, chocolate, coffee, red wine, and tea, your teeth lose whiteness over time. In addition, the use of tobacco products quickly stains your teeth.
If your teeth have intrinsic staining, the source of discoloration has come from inside your teeth. Intrinsic discoloration comes from things like medications, tooth decay, and dental trauma.
This type of tooth discoloration tends to have more of a gray hue and doesn’t respond to teeth whitening products, since it’s not actually getting at the root cause.
As you get older, the enamel on your teeth starts to wear away, revealing the yellow dentin underneath and leaving your teeth vulnerable to staining.
Thankfully, our team at Avalon Dental offers a wide variety of cosmetic dentistry services to brighten your smile.
To start, our team examines your teeth to look for any signs of wear or decay that could be responsible for discoloration. We also discuss your diet and lifestyle choices to see if they could be stain contributors as well.
Once we’ve narrowed down the source (or sources) of your tooth discoloration, we can recommend a treatment option that will work best to whiten your teeth.
For extrinsic and age-related staining, we offer in-office teeth whitening, which uses professional-grade products to effectively remove stains and reveal your whitest smile yet.
In cases of intrinsic staining, if addressing the root cause doesn’t eliminate staining, we offer dental veneers that are able to provide you with a brilliantly white smile.
To find and treat the source of your tooth discoloration, schedule an appointment with our Avalon Dental team by calling our San Ramon, California, office or using our online booking feature today.
