yellow teeth

Think of a fine porcelain cup. Fill it daily with coffee and colas, subject it to heat and cold, smoke, and alcohol. Fill it with brighfly colored food. Then wash the cup in a harsh de- tergent. Eventually, tiny craze marks will dot the ceramic surface, and before you know it, the once-white cup looks dirty and dingy.

Your teeth are like that pretty porcelain cup. They start out shiny and white. But cola, tea, smoke, acidic juices, and highly pigmented foods slosh past them three (or more) times daily. And your teeth tell the tale in the form of stains.
Not that teeth were ever meant to be totally white. The natural color of teeth is achrally light yellow to light yellow-red, But as you age, your teeth tend to darken even more.

Surface enamel cracks and erodes, exposing dentin, the less dense inside of the tooth, which absorbs food color. Stains also latch onto the plaque and tartar build up on teeth, finding an- chorage among the nooks and crannies.

"There are many different kinds of stains,". Stains can be caused by antibiotics, by quirk in individual metabolism, and sometimes by high fever.
All these have to be fixed by a professional. But common stains-the coffee and cigarette variety-can be washed away between professional cleanings. Here's how.

Clean after every meall
If you clean your teeth regularly and conscientiously, you have less chance of keeping stains on your teeth.

Polish with baking soda
Mix baking soda with enough hydrogen peroxide to make a toothpaste. Then brush those stains away.

Check your.plaque quotient.
Rinse with a disclosing so- Iution that will show where plaque still remains on your teeth after brushing. Those are the spots where your teeth wiil stain first if you. don't improve your brushing technique

Rinse, rinse, rinse
After every meal, rinse the food from your teeth. If you can't get to a restroom. pick up your water glass, take a swig, then -rinse and swallow at the table.

Electrify your smile
An electric toothbrush Will push more of the stain-collecting plaque off-your teeth. Studies show an electric tooth brush can improve 98.2 percent of plaque.

Try a plaque dissolver
Mouthwashes that have an antibacterial action will reduce stain-catching plaque,

Don't scrub away your smile.
If you're tempted to turn to one of those super-whitening tooth polishes, don't. . "lt's a quick fix, but lt's like using an abrasive on a countertop. It takes off the stain, but it wears off the enamel, too. And as your enamel gets thinner and thinner, more of the dentin shows through. And dentin is darker, so it looks like your tooth is stained."
Watch out for excessive scrubbing, too. Harder doesn’t mean better. A heavy-duty brush with a lot of muscle behind it can be as wearing on tooth enamel as an abrasive toothpaste.