Your teeth are exposed to the world every day. A person’s smile can be the first feature we notice when meeting someone new, and it is often involved in making that “first impression.” Growing up, we all heard the prized directions to brush and floss twice a day, both in the morning and at night to retain a perfect, white smile. Though, whether it is a result of your eating, smoking or brushing habits, you may find your teeth to be a yellowish shade. This might cause you to ask yourself “why are my teeth yellow?” Read on to learn more about causes and solutions to yellow teeth.

What causes yellow teeth?

Naturally, teeth have a layer of protection called enamel, which helps to keep your teeth white and shiny. If you smoke, drink too much coffee or soda, eat a lot of sugary or acidic foods, or fail to brush, floss and use mouthwash enough, this can cause the dentin to wear away, resulting in the yellowing of your teeth. These refer to situations of extrinsic (or external) staining. There is also something called intrinsic (or internal) staining on the insides of your teeth, which may be a result of medicines that you took when you were a young child, excessive consumption of fluoride, or even trauma that can cause bleeding on the inside of your teeth.

Yellowing may also be caused by your genetics and/or age. As bad as this may sound, you may simply have yellower teeth than others because of your particular genetic makeup. In addition, as you get older, your enamel may wear down therefore making it easier to stain your teeth yellow through diet, smoking, or lack of dental hygiene.

What can you do about it?

The solutions for whitening your teeth are quite simple. If you smoke, drink a lot of coffee or acidic substances, or eat a lot of candy or other sugary foods, either cut down on the intake or quit altogether. You can also improve your dental hygiene by brushing more often (if you don’t already brush twice a day), flossing , and getting your teeth cleaned by a dentist regularly. You can also try using teeth-whitening toothpastes or strips purchased either over-the-counter or prescribed by your dentist.

If none of these remedies are taking effect, you may want to see a dentist for other options. If you need to find one in your area, try using TalkLocal. TalkLocal is a FREE service that will connect you with top-quality, reputable dentists in your neighborhood, within minutes. Simply enter in your problem, availability and location and TalkLocal will contact multiple specialists, who will then call YOU directly, ready to help.

This entry was originally posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2012 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Dentists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.