Easily the most common requests we hear from patients who visit our Fort Worth dental office for a cosmetic dentistry consultation is, “I want to brighten my smile!” Walk down your local pharmacy’s oral hygiene aisle, and you’ll find a wide array of teeth whitening pastes, gels, strips, and rinses. These products promise brilliant white smiles, but in most cases, they aren’t able to deliver. One reason store bought whiteners aren’t effective is that they do not address the underlying cause of your tooth staining. When patients visit our team for professional teeth whitening, we first look for the underlying cause of dental discoloration. Then, we create a targeted teeth whitening plan to address the patient’s specific concerns. In this post, we’ll discuss causes of tooth staining, prevention methods, and our teeth whitening services.
Common Causes of Dental Staining
Before recommending a teeth whitening treatment, we’ll work with you to determine the main cause of your dental staining. Some of the most common causes of tooth staining include:
- Consumption of darkly colored foods and drinks
- Tobacco use
- Fluorosis caused by overconsumption of fluoride during dental development creates brighter white spots on teeth
- Enamel hypoplasia causes the enamel to be thin and reveals the yellow-colored dentin tooth layer
- Genetically darker tooth coloring
- Taking tetracycline medications during dental development can lead to dark bands around teeth
Preventing Dental Staining
Years of daily wear and tear will discolor your teeth eventually, but you can minimize dental staining with proper daily care and avoiding certain habits, including:
- Brush teeth for two minutes at a time at least twice each day
- Floss daily
- Brush, use oral rinse, or chew sugar free gum between meals to avoid plaque buildup
- Consume darkly colored foods and drinks in moderation
- Don’t use tobacco products
- Visit the dentist at least twice a year for checkups and professional teeth cleanings
Brightening Teeth
If we determine you can whitening your smile with professional teeth whitening treatments, we offer both in-office and at-home options. In-office teeth whitening is completed by our team in about an hour and delivers results up to ten shades brighter. At-home teeth whitening gradually whitens smiles with short, daily applications over the course of about two weeks. Professional at-home whitening kits are great for patients with sensitive teeth and those who want to touch up the results of in-office teeth whitening treatment.
Meet Dr. Coleman King
Fort Worth cosmetic dentist, Jasmine Coleman King, DDS, is happy to offer effective professional teeth whitening services both in our office and at-home to help patients achieve their smile brightening goals. She also offers a wide range of cosmetic dentistry services to improve the appearance of smiles when teeth whitening is not effective. If you want to learn more about teeth whitening or any of our other services, call to schedule a cosmetic dentistry consultation at Summer Creek Dentistry today.