Our research into the literature explains it. Extrinsic stains are commonly on the tooth's surface from food like tea, coffee, red wine or smoking. These surface stains can be removed. However, intrinsic stains come from colour molecules inside the tooth and are impossible to clean with regular external polishing.
The reasons for intrinsic colour are varied:
Born This Way
Occasionally, tooth colour is just something in our genetics like hair, skin and eye colour. Our teeth erupt already containing organic debris in the microstructure of the enamel and a genetic colour in the dentine, both giving the tooth its colour.
Age
Another possibility is that as we age, the pulp nerve and blood vessels) shrinks, and dentine increases in size and can be yellow or brown within the tooth. With age, the colour molecules keep joining together, creating longer and darker molecules. Sitting inside the tooth, they make an overall increasing yellow or darker hue to our smiles.
Absorbed Over Time
Also, with time, our teeth pick up organic debris the soaks into the microstructure of the enamel. The stain molecules link like magnets, getting longer, going deeper and becoming darker as we age.
These colours are chemically long-chain pigments. The atoms have tight bonds called chromophores which absorb light, making the tooth look darker. This material can't be removed with surface polishing at the dentist or abrasive toothpaste-like charcoal or whitening toothpaste.
The aim of professional whitening products containing either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide is to break down to oxygenate and disintegrate and convert these long and dark molecules deeply into the microstructure of all the teeth. It's cleaning the tooth from the inside by penetrating the tooth structure, breaking up the long-chain molecules that are plugging up the prismatic and crystalline structures of the tooth.
The byproducts of the whitening gel break down into oxygen and free radicals, which travel through the tooth via water molecules that then act to break the chromophore bonds. The long molecule is converted into small white molecules. These reactions need to penetrate deep into the enamel and the dentine to break down the stain molecules.
Teeth Whitening in Norwest, NSW
With teeth whitening treatments in Norwest, we help patients create brighter smiles all the time. We welcome your call to arrange your teeth whitening consultation.