Over time, your teeth can yellow as your environment, food, and lifestyle affect your dental health. There are many potential causes of this yellowing, but there are also solutions and preventative measures to fix yellowing teeth.
Causes of Yellow Teeth and How to Address Them
Even with a great dental hygiene routine, there are still factors that can cause your shiny smile to get duller. While there are some medical reasons that teeth may become discolored, the most common culprits are issues that people face every day.
Food and Drinks: The enamel of your teeth is hard but delicate, and it can be stained by what you eat and drink. If you are a regular coffee, wine, or tea drinker, all of these can cause discoloration. With proper home care like teeth brushing, flossing, and over-the-counter teeth whitening kits, you can potentially improve your smile and combat the effects of what you’re eating and drinking. Additionally, regular teeth cleanings from your dentist will help to whiten your enamel professionally.
Diet and Nutrition: Having a proper intake of vitamins and nutrients is an important part of keeping your teeth healthy and beautiful. A lack of certain minerals, like calcium, can affect the coloration of your teeth and the strength of your teeth overall. Your teeth can be negatively impacted when you’re not eating a healthy and balanced diet, just as with your entire body.
Grinding: Excessive teeth grinding can cause what appears to be yellowing or discoloration. Grinding your teeth as a habit causes your enamel to wear away. The inner part of the teeth is dentin, and it is more yellow than enamel. As you continue to grind your teeth, the layers of enamel become thinner and show the yellow dentin underneath. Mouth guards can help stop this decay of enamel, and they are especially helpful for those who grind their teeth while sleeping.
Age: Your age also impacts how white your teeth are. As you get older, the dentin in your teeth darkens. Also, from environmental factors building up over time, the enamel becomes thin and shows the deeper color of that inner dentin. Together, these things cause teeth to look more yellow than they did in your younger years. There are options to fight age-related yellowing, including veneers. We recommend a dentist visit for a solution to this kind of yellowing.
How Can Galliano Dentistry Help?
Yellow teeth can be from factors inside your body, outside your body, or a combination of the two. If you have done your best to take care of your teeth and still find that your smile isn’t as bright as you’d like, the team at Galliano Family Dentistry can help. We will professionally clean your teeth and make sure your mouth is in generally good health. Our expert dentists will also figure out what’s negatively impacting your smile and create a plan to reverse it. Overall, the experience at our office is one you’ll need to see to believe. Contact us today to schedule an appointment!
