Oral Care Guide for Teens

There are two factors causing tooth discoloration—internal factor and external factor.

External factors causing tooth discoloration

Brown and black stains on the surface of teeth

Teeth with black stains

Cause
Habitual smoking or drinking of dark-coloured beverages, such as tea or coffee, result in the food colours being adsorbed onto the tooth surfaces.

Treatment
The dentist will use:

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Dental pumice to remove the stain, and then prophylaxis paste to smoothen the tooth surfaces; or

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Prophyjet—utilizing air to spray a mixture of fine baking soda powder and water onto the surfaces of teeth to remove stains.

Prophyjet cleaning

Teeth after stain removal

Prevention
Do not smoke and avoid drinking dark-coloured beverages to minimize food colours being adsorbed.

Green and orange stains at the surface of teeth

Teeth with orange stain

Cause
Teeth has not been cleaned thoroughly, and the accumulated dental plaque has adsorbed food colours and has formed green and orange stains.

Treatment
Dentist will perform scaling to remove accumulated dental plaque and stains.

Teeth after orange stain removal

Prevention
Brush every morning and before bed at night, and use dental floss to remove dental plaque to keep the teeth white.

Internal factors causing tooth discoloration

Teeth appear to be greyish-blue to brownish-yellow

Cause
If tetracycline, a kind of antibiotics, is taken during the development of teeth, the dentine forming cells will absorb the tetracycline. The dentine thus formed will be yellowish-brown to bluish-grey which will show through as the colour of the teeth.

Treatment

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Bleaching

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Laminate Veneer

Teeth appear to be greyish-black

Cause 1
Dental Caries

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Treatment
The dentist removes the tooth decay, and then puts on a filling.

Cause 2
Pulp necrosis

The pulp becomes necrotic because of tooth trauma or dental caries, and the tooth will appear greyish-black.

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Treatment
Endodontic treatment must be done to treat the discoloured tooth which has pulp necrosis.

Tooth after root canal therapy

If teeth still appear greyish-black, dentist can treat the discoloured teeth by bleaching, laminate veneer or crown.

Yellowish-brown or white patches at the surface of a tooth

Cause

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Early dental caries

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Disturbance during the development of a tooth
If a deciduous tooth is so decayed that the pulp is exposed, the bacteria, via the apex of the tooth, will cause an infection in the vicinity of the developing permanent successor. This will disturb the development of the enamel of the permanent tooth, resulting in the formation of yellowish-brown patches.

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Fluorosis
Long term excessive fluoride ingestion will alter the development of the enamel of the teeth. This disturbance will show as white patches on the teeth.

Treatment

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Early dental caries—Dentist can apply topical fluoride onto the surfaces of teeth so that the early caries lesion can be remineralised.

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Disturbance during the development of a tooth or Fluorosis—Filling, Laminate veneer or Crown.

Tooth after filling