Yellow Teeth

[Sweet Tooth]

What are the reasons why our teeth can loose their white color and look more yellow?

 

[letsconnect]

There's quite a few reasons:

• Genetics: Just like eye color, there's a lot of variation between people: some people's teeth are naturally yellower teeth than other people's.

• Aging: The very outside shell of teeth is whiter than the more inside layers. As we get older, everyday activities like chewing and exposure to acids wear down the outermost white layer. As it gets thinner, the yellow inside simply shows through more.

• Staining: Dark foods and drinks like coffee, tea, red wine, and berries have strong colors that stick to the tiny pores in your teeth. Smoking also stains teeth.

• Acids: They can either come from the outside (food/drinks) or the inside (stomach). When we consume a lot of highly acidic drinks/foods like lemons, fizzy drinks, or sports drinks, the acid temporarily softens the teeth and makes the surface slightly rough, almost like a sponge. If you have dark drinks like coffee or tea right after having something acidic, those dark colors can soak into the softened teeth and get trapped. Acid that comes from the stomach (acid reflux/heartburn) can do the same thing.

• Hardened plaque: if plaque isn't removed perfectly, over time, it turns into a hard yellow crust near the gums called tartar (you cannot brush this off at home; a dentist has to clean it).

• Medicines: Taking certain medicines as a growing child, especially tetracycline, can permanently stain the inside of the teeth (these look more brown/gray/blue-gray than yellowish though).

So it can be either one of these things, or a combination! But yes, most people's teeth get yellower as they get older.

 

[Sweet Tooth]

@letsconnect Sorry to say, I'm definately getting older Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me.