In our daily life, there are many food items and drinks that we consume that can cause our natural tooth color to fade away. What exactly remains are the stains and discoloration. How does this happen? All of your teeth are made up of two layers- an internal one called the dentin layer, while the outer one called the enamel layer. The enamel tends to protect our teeth. But when we consume food and drinks like alcohol, carbonated soda, coffee, or even when we smoke, there is a formation of yet another layer of our enamel. The foreign materials that we consume can this form a certain film layer also known as the pellicle film on top of our enamel.
The enamel layer is comprised of hydroxyapatite crystals, which leads to the formation of microscopic pores. These pores tend to absorb the food items and drinks from the pellicle film that is formed over the enamel. These staining agents can thus get onto our tooth surfaces and cannot easily go away once they have penetrated the enamel layer. These stains are somewhat harmless but can lead to embarrassing situations in our daily life. They can mar our personality in our social circles.
Simple brushing and flossing routine cannot help when the situation gets at this point, and therefore, the revolutionary teeth whitening treatments come into existence. Most teeth whiteners make use of bleaching materials and chemicals to make sure that it reaches our tooth surface beyond the enamel layer. Once they are there, there tends to occur a chemical reaction which is exactly an oxidation reaction, which can break the stains away.
Carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide are present in most bleaching chemical that is meant for our teeth. The carbamide peroxide thus tends to breaks down into hydrogen peroxide, and along with that, it creates urea. These reactions help in the stain removal.
Bleaching procedures can change your natural teeth color. It can vary from about five to seven shades brighter. The treatments at your trusted dental clinic rely on such procedures. Also, the whitening home kits involve the same chemical processes.
Another way to deal with stains is by the nonbleaching process. This particularly is done by various chemical and physical reactions, which helps in the removal of stains. Many kinds of toothpaste involve light abrasion techniques to completely wear the surface stains off. This can be done at home, between your dental checkups. Professional dental cleaning can also provide you with similar results, which use abrasion techniques along with dental polishing to get rid of the external stains.
Teeth whitening methods can vary for everyone, depending on the severity of their stains. Most people can recover with whitening toothpaste, while some need to undergo hefty teeth whitening procedures. Some even require the help of porcelain veneers and dental bondings to get treated.
Consult our team of professionals to know what method shall suit you.