Expert: Jeff Dalin DDS - 10/26/2005

Question
Dr. Dalin-

Whenever I go for my regular dental cleaning every 6 months, I have terrible teeth staining. The staining is dark in color and resembles  smokers teeth. Then after cleaning my teeth are white again. It takes about a half hour to remove the staining.
I told my dentist that I dont drink coffee, dont smoke, dont drink tea, no wine, no dark colored foods. None whatsoever. I am reasonably healthy. I drink lots of water. I do use albuterol inhaler for asthma.
So whats causing my teeth to stain like that?  Dentist was puzzled. The ony dark colored foods I include in my diet are cinnamon, whole grains,  and whole wheat pasta. The staining can get bad.

Thanks, Todd

Answer
Todd
Sometimes people just get stain on their teeth and we cannot figure out why. It must be some sort of mixture of foods, salivary composition, etc. Since you are not able to nail down one cause, you then must take the next step...try to get it off quickly. The Sonicare people claim that their sonic toothbrush helps prevent stain. I would try that. Also use the "whitening" toothpastes. They claim they remove surface stain better. One other option is to periodically brush with baking soda/peroxide mixture (dip brush in peroxide, pick up baking soda on wet brush). This sometimes "bubbles" off stain. Try these ideas and see how you do. Good luck,

Jeff Dalin, DDS