Focus on Smiles Blog

Many people suffer from stained or discolored teeth. It is part of the aging process and it can make a person feel self-conscious about their smile. Besides aging, pigmented foods and drinks stain the teeth, and also certain minerals in our drinking water.

Fluoride Can be Over-Used
Most city water has fluoride added. Fluoride helps to strengthen tooth enamel and prevent decay and it can help teeth repair themselves if minor decay has started (a process called remineralization). But too much fluoride can discolor the teeth and can cause a condition caused skeletal flurosis, where the bones become brittle and break easily.

Most often, fluoride discoloration is found in children. If the drinking water is fluoridated and the parents also give a fluoride supplement to their children and have them use fluoride toothpaste, staining can result. When the teeth are stained early in life, as they are developing in the child, that is deep staining that will be harder to remove with any teeth whitening procedure than the surface stains from pigmented food and drink.

Other minerals that stain teeth are iron and manganese, which cause brown stains. Well water may contain these minerals as well as city water.

Teeth Whitening a Good Remedy
Most tooth staining can be removed by a teeth whitening procedure done by a qualified dentist. Dr. Fialka-Eshenko offers an in-office tooth whitening treatment that will give you dramatic whitening results in about 90 minutes. She also offers whitening kits you can use at home. They are far superior to store-bought whitening kits, as she will have two trays custom-made for a snug fit on your teeth, upper and lower, and will supply professional-grade whitening gel.

If you live in the Edmonton area and are interested in teeth whitening, please contact Dr. Christine Fialka-Eshenko for a consultation. We will help you select the whitening option that's right for you.

Almost everyone has some sort of tooth discoloration, whether it is gray, brown or yellow in shade. This discoloration can make us self-conscious about our smile. A certain amount of discoloration is expected with age, but some factors speed it up:

• Drinking a lot of dark liquids such as coffee, black tea, red wine or dark sodas. They contain pigments that stain the teeth, and the same is true of pigmented foods like blackberries or blueberries.
• Smoking or chewing tobacco. The nicotine causes yellow staining on the teeth.
• Taking in too much fluoride. There may be fluoride in your home's water supply, and it is in most toothpastes and mouthwashes. Supplements are seldom necessary and may harm the bones as well as the teeth.
• Trauma to a tooth - a broken tooth invites bacteria and decay and may become necrotic, the tissue darkening as it dies. However, this would be painful and most people would contact a dentist fairly quickly.

Tooth Whitening Choices
These days, after all the media coverage of tooth whitening and TV programs about dental makeovers, the stores are full of products to whiten the teeth. Most of them are ineffective or give uneven results, or even damage the teeth. Toothpastes that claim to "whiten" your teeth will actually yellow them over time, as they contain abrasive ingredients that scrape off tooth enamel.

1. Professional tooth whitening can be done in a dental office. This form of whitening will give you the best results and we offer a highly effective procedure in our office that takes about 90 minutes. We also offer At-Home tooth whitening, where Dr. Fialka-Eshenko will have customized trays made for you and the kit will contain professional-strength whitening gel.
2. Dental bonding, where individual teeth can be whitened if a trauma or accident has discolored them. Dr. Fialka-Eshenko would apply dental composite and shape it to correct or hide the defect.
3. Porcelain veneers, where very thin pieces of tooth shaped porcelain are bonded to the front surfaces of your teeth. They provide an entirely new surface, hiding the old stained one.

If you suffer from dark or discolored teeth and are interested in tooth whitening, please contact our Edmonton cosmetic dentistry office today to set up a consultation. We will evaluate your condition and help you choose an option that best suits your needs.