Teeth whitening Sheffield top tips

We love that we’re able to give back to our patients the bright white smile they’ve been hankering after with teeth whitening Sheffield. But once you’ve opted to take the plunge and have your teeth whitened with one of our systems, there are steps you need to take to keep your teeth bright and white. Don’t worry though we, at Dee Kay Dental, have put together a simple guide to protect your pearly whites.

Why do teeth discolour and stain?

The main cause of tooth enamel becoming blemished is when patients are consuming high staining foods and drinks regularly, and not cleaning their teeth properly. When you drink coffee, tea or eat really colourful food and don’t remove the residue quickly it begins to stain. This is caused by tannins colouring the tooth enamel.

Practical whitening solutions

Firstly, it may seem obvious, but you need to be really honest about how thorough your oral hygiene routine is. If you aren’t brushing a minimum of twice daily for at least two minutes this will affect staining on your teeth. So keep on top of brushing, and perhaps invest in a whitening toothpaste to help the process.

Good oral hygiene

Brushing your teeth isn’t just about brushing, you need to make sure you’re using floss and interdental brushes to clean off other residues that will sit on the tooth’s surfaces and between the teeth and gums, as this too will cause staining.

Smoking

There are many negative side effects on health if you are a smoker, and the damage to your teeth and gums is a big player. When it comes to teeth whitening Sheffield, if you want the process to work and maintain a white smile you need to seriously consider quitting smoking. Tobacco is a leading cause of tooth discolouration and leaves the yellowish residue you may be familiar with.

Diet

As we’ve already mentioned, food and drink are major players in tooth staining. If you’ve been concerned about discolouration enough to opt for teeth whitening Sheffield then perhaps altering some areas of your diet would be worth doing in order to maintain results.

If you are a regular consumer of tea, coffee and red wine, this is more than one cup/glass of each per day. We would recommend reducing your consumption of all of these, as they will greatly impact how long your teeth whitening will last. Other foods to try and avoid are curries and curried foods, ketchup, dark coloured pasta sauces, soft fruits such as blueberries and raspberries, soy sauce, cranberry juice and coca cola.

If you are a regular consumer of fizzy drinks and juices we highly recommend investing in some reusable straws that you can carry with you. Regardless of tooth staining, fizzy, acidic drinks damage tooth enamel and cause harm to the tooth structure, drinking through a straw reduces the impact of this on the teeth.

Try to add more crunchy whole fruits and veggies, like carrots and apples, they actually work as natural stain removers as they scrub at the teeth.

If you would like more information on teeth whitening, please contact us at the practice and one of the team will be happy to talk to you about our cosmetic treatments.