5 Factors that Cause Tooth Discoloration and How to Fix It

The road to getting and maintaining white teeth doesn’t have to be a tricky one, but there can be a few obstacles in your way. Tooth discoloration can take away from a killer smile and make you feel insecure about showing your teeth at all. If you struggle to keep your teeth white, you might not even know what’s causing the problem. Teeth discoloration can be caused by two kinds of factors: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic factors are external stains on the tooth, while intrinsic factors come from within the tooth. Here are five factors that cause tooth discoloration.
Some types of foods and drinks
Certain foods and drinks might stain your teeth. Some beverages, such as coffee, tea, dark sodas, or wine, are known extrinsic factors for tooth discoloration. When you drink these beverages often, they are likely to stain your teeth and darken or yellow your beautiful smile. Lesser-known culprits are curry, balsamic vinegar, and barbecue sauce. Foods or drinks that are either highly acidic or high in sugar can also dull your teeth because they damage the enamel of the tooth.
Smoking or using tobacco products
Smoking is damaging to the body in general, and cigarettes can wreak havoc on the appearance of your teeth. The tar in tobacco products leaves a dark residue on teeth that is hard to get rid of. Nicotine also stains the teeth because when it reacts with oxygen, it becomes yellow. Smoking and tobacco products damage your health and lead to a variety of diseases that are detrimental to your body, including your teeth.
Getting older
People’s teeth naturally become more yellow as they age. This is for a couple of different reasons. As you get older, you experience more extrinsic factors like the ones listed above, and it is more likely that your teeth will be more stained. Additionally, your teeth change as you age. The enamel of your teeth becomes thinner over time and duller. The dentin (inner layer of your teeth) also becomes more yellow over time and more visible under the thinner enamel.
Damage
When you damage or cause trauma to a tooth, you can cause permanent discoloration. Intrinsic discoloration can be caused by internal bleeding within a tooth. If a tooth has experienced serious trauma, it becomes darker in color.
Some medications
Some medications can affect the dentin and cause intrinsic discoloration in teeth. If you took certain antibiotics before you were eight years old, you might experience tooth discoloration. This may also be the case if your mother took these antibiotics when she was pregnant with you. Other types of medications that may cause tooth discoloration are:
-Antipsychotics
-Chemotherapy drugs
-Antihistamines
-Blood pressure medicines
Fixing Tooth Discoloration with Zoom! Teeth Whitening
If you are looking for a solution to correct tooth discoloration and give yourself a set of shining white teeth, consider Zoom! Teeth Whitening as a solution. Zoom! is one of the best in-office whitening treatments that uses a highly effective bleaching gel in conjunction with a no-heat activation lamp. When the light is applied to the solution, it causes the peroxide-based gel to penetrate the enamel, eliminating both surface and deep stains. Zoom! can lighten your teeth up to 10 shades in a 45-minute session and will leave you with beautiful bright white results that can last two years.
If you are interested in receiving Zoom! to alleviate tooth discoloration and leave you with a stunning white smile, book an appointment with Hardin Advanced Dentistry today.