 Hello everybody, Andrea Mayesky here with Dental L. So let's talk about stained teeth. How do our teeth stain and how can we prevent stain? And what about if we have stain now, how do we actually get rid of it and do whitening toothpaste work? Okay, so I'm gonna talk a little bit about all of that. So first of all, everybody's teeth do stain a little bit differently. Even me, I have been a dental hygienist for 15 years. And I have seen patients where they tell me that they drink four cups of coffee a day, yet they have a little bit of stain. If they hadn't told me that they drink four cups a day, I would not have thought anything of it. I have other patients who might drink coffee every other day, but they get so much stain. Even I feel bad for them. I go, oh my goodness, like you do everything you possibly can, but you do get a lot of stain. Now myself, I actually drink tea and coffee. I used to get a lot of stain, especially my lower teeth, like right at the front, right there. I would get a lot of stain where it would be obvious. You know how you see sort of around the teeth that like light brown color? Yeah, that was definitely me. And I would get my teeth cleaned every three months, not because my teeth were dirty, but just because I would get a lot of stain and having your teeth cleaned is the best way to get rid of stain. But there are things that you can do at home to help to keep that stain away, or at least a lot less, so it doesn't come back as quickly. So we are going to eat things that stain our teeth. You know, coffee, tea, blueberry pie, you know, things do stain. If you are a smoker, of course the less you smoke, the less your teeth will stain. So keep that in mind. But what we can do is drink a lot of water because that actually helps to lessen that stain in the mouth and it does help so that it doesn't stick as easily. So every time I have coffee, tea, anything that I know is going to stain, I have water afterwards. I even use the water as a mouthwash. So I will kind of put it in my mouth and just kind of swish around for like 30 seconds just to really help keep that stain from sticking because once that stain sticks, it's a lot harder to get off. To take it off, it actually does work to brush your teeth. So I brush three times a day if I'm home. There are whitening toothpaste out there that don't really do anything and there are some out there that actually do work. But be careful if you have cold, sensitive teeth. Those whitening toothpaste, a lot of them on the market are more coarse. So they can actually make the cold sensitivity worse. So be careful. It might be better for you to actually stay away from those toothpaste. If you're looking for a toothpaste that would work for you, just let me know. I might ask you a couple of questions because it does depend on your current teeth situation, okay? But there are some out there that actually do work, but there's no toothpaste out there that will make the teeth lighter. What those toothpaste do is they will actually take away stain. How does that work by using your toothbrush? So even if you weren't using a whitening toothpaste, you will notice that stain comes off some of it, but some of those whitening toothpaste do actually just help to get in there a lot better if that makes sense. So some of them do work. Having your teeth cleaned more often does work as well. Even if you have insurance, if you are covered, let's say, for a cleaning and checkup every nine months, you might be covered for a cleaning only more often. You would not be covered for a checkup more often, but you might be covered for a cleaning only more often. So insurance companies either call that a scale or a perio appointment. So you could always call them to ask. If you need help, let me know because sometimes that is covered more often. Sometimes though, your dental hygienists does have to ask for it. So they might cover you for a cleaning more often, but they have to call and tell your insurance company why they feel you need to come more often. It's not just because you want to, but it's because you do get more stain. More stain causes more plaque, which causes more tartar, which causes gum disease. So that's why it does help to come in for a cleaning more often. Was there anything I didn't mention you guys? Using toothbrushes, either a manual or electric does make a difference. I do prefer electric toothbrushes, but I do like a manual toothbrush too, just to help to, I don't know, mix it up a little bit. There's a manual toothbrush that I like called Heroprox. It is awesome because it's like a wider toothbrush. I thought I might have one here, but I think they're all in my closet and it does work well too. So using the right toothbrush does make a big difference. Always use a soft one. If you are using a medium or a hard one, you do have to push harder, but that can actually thin the enamel over time and where the gum and the tooth meet, it can thin that area too. Anytime there is thinning enamel, that helps the stain attach easier. So those people who get stain a lot easier is likely because they have thinning enamel from brushing too hard in the past. Or it could be there are certain proteins in our saliva that are just, we have the good proteins and we have the bad proteins. Those people that get a lot of stain, plaque, tartar, they just have to work harder because their proteins and their saliva are actually causing that. So they will probably have to brush three times a day, not twice a day. They will probably have to use a mouthwash every morning and every night to just sort of help to limit that saliva overall. So I hope this helps you guys. Let me know if you have any questions, but the good news is there are things you can do at home to limit that stain if you can't see your dental hygienists for a cleaning every three months. So there are things you can do. Make sure to brush at least twice a day, even three times a day using the right toothpaste. Always have water after eating and drinking and that will go a long, long way. Thank you guys so much for watching. Let me know if you have any questions and I will see you guys in the next one.