What causes Tooth Staining? | Dental Treatment Guide


There are many different causes of tooth staining which includes aging, starting color, translucency and thinness, eating habits, smoking habits, drugs/chemicals, grinding and trauma. These many problems affect your teeth in different ways.

Age: The age you are and the color of your teeth is directly related. As you get older, your teeth will get darker because of normal wear and tear as well as because of stain accumulation. Young teenagers will experience dramatic changes from the whitening process. In the twenties, when the teeth are more of a yellow color, you may need to do a little more maintenance in order to get better whitening. In your forties you will find that you teeth go from yellow to brown, and in this case more in-depth maintenance to get the color you want. By the fifties, you may find that it is very near impossible to remove most of the stubborn stains.

Starting Color: Everyone has one tooth color that is his or her natural color; it usually ranges from yellow-brown to green-gray, and is intensified, as you get older. The yellow-brown color accepts bleaching better than the green-gray does.

Translucency and thinness: With age translucency and thinness are more noticeable. All teeth show some sort of translucency, however those that are thick and opaque may be more advantageous because they are usually lighter, have a better sparkle and are easier to bleach. When your teeth are thin or transparent (usually the front teeth) will have lees of the pigment you would need for bleaching to work. Dentist in the cosmetic field are usually the only condition that teeth whitening will not correct.

Eating habits: When you eat a regular diet of coffee, carrots, oranges, tea, red wines, and beverages that have darker colors and some kinds of food will cause you to have a great deal of staining throughout the later years of your life. Other foods may cause erosion of the enamel meant to protect your teeth such as citrus fruit and vinegar because of their acidity. As a result of these two situations you may find that the yellow colored dentin will show through the cracks in your enamel and your teeth will become more transparent.

Smoking Habits: When you smoke nicotine, it will leave a brown deposit on your teeth and eventually soak into the structure of your teeth causing intrinsic discoloration.

Drugs and Chemicals: Tetracycline during you tooth formation will produce the dark gray and brown ribbon stains which may give you a hard time of removing the stains. Fluoride in excessive amounts will cause fluorosis and areas of white mottling.

Grinding: Many times you will feel stress, you may grind your teeth, which may cause some micro-cracking on your teeth and cause the biting edges to become darker.

Trauma: When you fall or have other injuries that will produce big cracks on your teeth, which will cause debris and stains to collect in those cracks.

Further Information about Teeth Whitening