WHY ISN'T MY TEETH NATURALLY WHITE
By: F.Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD
The Denture Pro.
Copyright 2002
How do I make my teeth bright WHITE ?, is a question that comes up routinely. People either want to know why their teeth aren't naturally White, or how they can make them that way. I'll first talk about natural teeth and then denture teeth.
To begin with you need to understand why your teeth are the color they are naturally, and that means how they are constructed naturally, as well as why they can be an off color due to other issues.
First, lets talk about how a tooth is structured. Natural teeth are made up of three primary layers of material. The first outside layer, which everyone knows, is called the Enamel, it sits on top of the second layer called the Dentin, and it sits on top of the third layer called the Pulp.
The Enamel material by itself tends to be anywhere from "clear" to "blue gray". The Dentin tends to be anywhere from a lite to dark yellow to any number of shades of brown, and the Pulp is always a shade of pink.
As light penetrates the teeth when you laugh, smile or talk, it goes all the way through the teeth until it hits the Pulp. Then it reflects back through each layer until it emerges back out of the teeth. As the light bounces back off the Pulp and goes through the Dentin and the Enamel it picks up what ever color or shade of color those layers present, blends them together, and what ever those combinations of blended colors produce is the color the tooth presents on the outside....Example: If the pulp is a lite Pink and the Dentin is lite yellow and the Enamel is a lite blue/gray, the tooth will have a very white appearance.
NOW, if the Enamel surface gets damaged, it has a greater chance of collecting stains from foods you eat, liquid you drink and other substances you use such as tobacco and drugs. If you place a tooth's Enamel surface under a microscope you will find it's like looking at the open end of a fully packed box of soda straws. Those straw looking objects are called "Enamel Rods" and if they get the top knocked off it provides an opening for various organic matter and stains to fill in. That of course will change the tooth's natural color.
While there are any number of OTC (over the counter) tooth whitening products with which to "do it your self" tooth whitening, they can be slow to work and in some cases cause a great deal of sensitivity. For the quickest tooth whitening, you need to see a Dentist. he or she can use a Dental Laser to achieve a far faster result. Also, colors that are deep in a tooth's layers will require the services of a dentists, do it your self will not reach those levels.
While we are on the subject of tooth colors let me expose an issue that gets under my skin. I have had patients come to me with dentures that had been made with very unattractive teeth of unattractive colors. These people have told me they were told that the teeth in their dentures were all that was available to choose from....that my friend is a pure, as they say in some parts of the country, "HOG WASH"..meaning, it's a lie. The truth is, there are some 100 different tooth shapes and sizes made in some 25 to 50 tooth color shades. Unfortunately some so called dental appliance professionals, will not offer the custom created denture teeth because the cost cuts into their profit margin.
Truly natural life like created denture teeth are not cheap. A full set of Upper & Lower "cheap" denture teeth (28) can be bought from the dental materials supplier for less than the (6) Upper or Lower front teeth that are high quality custom denture teeth.
Anyway, the better your dental hygiene practice, the whiter your teeth will stay. The better your diet, the healthier your teeth will stay. Having a regular yearly check up will keep both natural and false teeth in good condition.See your Dentist or Denturist on a regular basis. If you have comments or wish to ask a question about this material, respond on this site or Email : thedenturepro@aol.com for a personal response.
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