teeth stains

The last thing you want is yellow teeth after years of wearing braces. But unfortunately, it’s a very common occurrence. If you don’t take care of your mouth while you’re wearing braces, you might be surprised to see white squares where your braces were on yellow-stained teeth after your dentist removes them. Thankfully, it’s easy to avoid this experience. Here are some reasons why people get yellow teeth after braces and how to prevent this from happening. We’ll also talk about how you can fix stained teeth after braces.

Brush Properly With A Toothbrush Made for Braces

With all the brackets and wires crowding your teeth, it’s easy for plaque to build up in hard-to-reach places. That’s why it’s especially important for you to brush properly when you have braces. When plaque is left to sit on your teeth, your teeth start to decay, causing them to turn yellow.
People with braces should ask their dentist about electric toothbrushes that are specifically designed for mouths with braces. These brushes will have bristles that are made to remove plaque around brackets and get through wires.

Floss Every Day, Getting Those Hard-to-Reach Spots

Having braces can feel like a great excuse to not floss, since it’s harder to reach the spaces between your teeth. But with more bacteria buildup, it’s extremely important to floss with braces. Just like with brushing, flossing every day will help keep your teeth from decaying and turning yellow.
Superfloss is the best type of floss for people with braces. It’s made up of three types of floss: soft spongy floss, a stiffened-end threader, and regular floss. The stiffened-end threader makes it easier to get between your braces, and the large spongy floss helps you clean around your brackets and wires.

Avoid Tooth-Staining Food

Some food and drinks contain colored properties that can stick to your teeth’s enamel and change their beautiful white color to yellow. These include soda and “sports drinks”, hard and gummy candy, red wine, and coffee. It’s best to avoid these teeth-staining foods and drinks as often as possible, or slowly consume them with glass of water. When you do eat or drink them, wash out your mouth and brush afterwards to keep them from staining your teeth.

Don’t Smoke

Smoking is a big culprit of yellowing teeth, along with other horrible diseases and issues. There’s really no good reason to continue smoking. One of the many effects of smoking is yellowing teeth, caused by the nicotine and tar in tobacco. This can occur not just from smoking, but also from chewing tobacco. Tobacco use is one thing you should quit for good - not just when you have braces.

Use Invisalign Instead of Traditional Braces

If you haven’t had braces yet, you should consider using Invisalign instead of traditional braces. Since Invisalign braces are removable, it’s much easier to keep your braces and teeth clean, reducing the chance that your teeth will turn yellow. Brushing and flossing will be exactly the same as when you didn’t have braces!

Receive Teeth Whitening Treatment After Braces

If your teeth begin yellowing while you have braces, you don’t have to say goodbye to your pearly whites for good. Ask your dentist about teeth whitening after braces! At Water Tower Dental Care, we use Zoom! Teeth Whitening to change the color of your teeth dramatically after just one visit. This leading teeth whitening system brightens up your smile up to 8 shades in about an hour. It’s as easy as that.
Don’t settle for a yellow smile. Contact us to learn more about whitening your teeth after braces! There’s no better place to bring back your beautiful smile than at Chicago’s top cosmetic dentistry.

Just because something is good for you doesn’t mean it’s good for your teeth. There’s a wide variety of food that nutritionists would consider healthy for you, but that can damage your teeth if you’re not careful. Here are the top 6 healthy foods that are surprisingly bad for your teeth.

Citrus Fruits (Grapefruits, Oranges and Lemons)

While fruits like oranges, lemons and grapefruits are jam-packed with vitamin C and other important nutrients, they’re not so good for you teeth. Citrus fruits are very acidic and can erode your teeth’s enamel if not completely washed away.
Solution: You don’t have to stop eating citrus fruit to keep your mouth healthy! Immediately after eating a citrus fruit, wash your mouth out with water. Then, 30 minutes later, gently brush your teeth and use mouthwash to completely get rid of the acids.

Tomatoes

Like citrus fruits, tomatoes are highly acidic, causing enamel and tooth erosion. And it isn’t just raw tomatoes that can do your teeth harm. Unfortunately, tomato sauces, soups and pizza can cause tooth erosion due to tomato’s acidity.
Solution: Mix tomatoes with other foods so that your teeth aren’t solely exposed to tomato acids. You can also immediately wash out your mouth with water, and then gently brush your teeth and use mouthwash 30 minutes after eating tomato-based foods just like you can do with citrus fruits. This way, you’ll get rid of the acids before they cause serious harm.

Pickles

Acid is actually used in the pickling process to give pickles their trademark sour taste. This high acid content causes pickles to be closely linked to tooth erosion, according to this 2004 study.
Solution: As long as you don’t eat pickles daily, it’s unlikely that they will cause any serious problems for your teeth. If you do eat pickles regularly, wash your mouth out with water after you’ve finished eating and try to brush your teeth 30 minutes later to avoid serious harm to your teeth.

Apples

While apples have been found to be good for your teeth in some ways, they can also cause teeth erosion. Dental experts have found that apple’s acidic structure and increasingly high levels of sugar can cause erosion, according to The British Dental Association in a Daily Mail article.
Solution: Like with the other acidic foods, wash your mouth out with water after eating apples and brush 30 minutes later. You can also eat them with other food to minimize damage, and try eat your apple in one sitting instead of snacking on one for a while.

Dried Fruit

Though an easy snack, dried fruit is sticky and full of sugar. When it gets stuck to your teeth, which is inevitable, it creates a breeding ground for bacteria to eat away at the fruit’s sugar and your teeth.
Solution: Stick to fresh fruits if you can. If you do eat dried fruit, make sure to floss and brush away the dried fruit as completely as possible 30 minutes after you eat it.

Dark Teas

Black tea has a long list of health benefits, including fighting off free radicals and providing your body with antioxidants, according to TIME.com. It has even been found to fight off cavities. Still, tea has been found to potentially stain teeth even worse than coffee thanks to its higher tannin content, according to Colgate.
Solution: Drink water during and after you’re done drinking tea to reduce the likelihood that it will stain your teeth, and brush immediately afterwards. You can also switch to herbal tea, white tea or green tea, which are much less likely to cause stains and still provide health benefits.
Though these healthy foods may be bad for your teeth, it doesn’t mean you should stop eating them. Just make sure to follow our solutions and you’ll be on track to having healthy and beautiful looking teeth for years to come. Feel free to contact us with any questions! We would love to help.

There’s a reason Zoom! Teeth Whitening is so popular. It’s safe, fast and brightens smiles up to eight shades in about an hour. Sounds pretty amazing right? After you’ve received your Zoom! Teeth Whitening treatment and your teeth have finally become the pearly white color of your dreams, the last thing you want is to stain them back to their original color.
If you get your teeth whitening treatment done at Water Tower Dental Care in Chicago, you won’t have to worry about your teeth staining for a while. We’ll instruct you on how to best keep your teeth sparkling white for years to come after Zoom!, and offer you an at-home whitening kit along with an electric toothbrush whitening package. Still, it’s good to understand what you’ll have to do to keep your teeth white even before you go in for the treatment. Let’s take a more detailed look at exactly how to keep your teeth white after Zoom!

How Does Zoom! Teeth Whitening Work?

Zoom! Teeth whitening can make your teeth seven to eight shades whiter after just one short appointment. It’s considered one of the safest and most effective cosmetic dental treatments in dentistry. So how does it work? First, your dentist applies a special pH-balanced hydrogen peroxide solution to the surface of your teeth. The solution is then activated with a special low-heat light. The gel exfoliates your teeth stains from the inside out, leaving them looking better than ever. The entire procedure is made up of three 15-minute treatments that involve applying the solution and then heating it up. It’s as easy as that!

How to Keep Your Teeth White For Years To Come After Zoom!

Now that you know how we whiten your teeth, it’s time to discuss the most important part for you: keeping your teeth white after Zoom! When you come into our Chicago offices, we’ll give you more detailed instructions on how to do this and provide you with the tools to do so. But here is a general overview on how to keep those stains away after your Zoom! Teeth Whitening treatment.
First, you’ll want to avoid consuming any food or drinks that can stain your teeth for 24 hours after your treatment, such as coffee, red wine, pasta sauce, and tea. Zoom! makes your teeth porous for up to 24 hours, which leaves your teeth more susceptible to staining.
If you don’t already, you’ll want to consider using 3D whitening mouthwash and toothpaste. Depending on which brand you get, the ingredients in 3D whitening toothpaste and mouthwash can loosen up stains so that they are easier to brush away. You should use this toothpaste and mouthwash as many times a day as the maker recommends, or at least twice a day.
At Water Tower Dental Care, we will offer you a take home whitening kit to maintain your results over a longer period of time. We’ve ensured that these kits are safe and effective, so that you’re getting the most bang for your buck. They are easy to use and you won’t have to use them too often. Just make sure to follow our instructions, because you can overdo it.
Finally, we can also send you home with an electric toothbrush whitening package with whitening strips, so that you can take care of your pearly whites daily. This package is specifically designed for keeping your teeth white. Just follow our instructions, and you should be set!
Are you ready to get the smile of your dreams? Contact us to schedule an appointment at the #1 cosmetic dental practice in Chicago! You won’t be disappointed by your results.