Distinctly off-white teeth

[mtbc]

It is with some resistance that I indulge society's expectations regarding my appearance, at least insofar as it diverges from how humans naturally are. I am already annoyed that I can't go shopping barefoot. I do bother to trim my wilder ear or eyebrow hairs or whatever but I certainly don't go as far as whitening toothpastes and other cosmetic treatments. I can imagine that I would be even more irritable were I female and implicitly expected by some fancy employer to shave my legs or whatever; my instinctive attitude would be more, you hired a mammal, get over it. Were I in need of prosthetic limbs then I would be one of those who opt for the functional over the subtle regardless of the limbs' capacity to scare children.

The above isn't to say that I am not curious about what is going on with my appearance. I've noticed that especially the sides of my lower front teeth seem rather brown-stained and I wonder what has changed. Is it just a natural part of aging? I wondered if it happened since I started drinking more coffee again. Over recent weeks I have tried rather reducing my coffee consumption, also black tea consumption, but with no perceptible reversion. Perhaps it is simply that the stains are long-lasting or maybe the coffee is irrelevant, I don't know.

I also don't much care at the moment. These days I am employed in a relatively junior role more behind the scenes, I am no longer a project lead traveling for meetings at NASA headquarters or on Wall Street or anything. That kind of thing I am at least fine to put on a suit and tie for. Still, understanding why my teeth's color changed might someday matter again. I am certainly not curious enough to pay any money to whiten my teeth; I probably don't care about the opinion of anybody who judges me on that basis. Reducing my coffee consumption already fits neatly with my habit of trying to go for periods with a low intake of popular psychoactive drugs; I similarly have the occasional week or two of being teetotal.

Comments

[emperor]

AIUI (or rather, as my dentists have told me down the years), tea and coffee (and I think red wine and a few other things - Corsodyl is particularly bad) do stain your teeth - you can get them cleaned (typically by the hygienist on a private basis rather than by the NHS dentist) with an ultrasonic device. But I think once stained, they won't really become un-stained without cleaning.

A previous dentist did the cleaning for me, the current one doesn't (but does ask me if I want to see the hygienist every time I go), and I can't be bothered since it's only a cosmetic defect and doesn't affect the durability of the teeth.

[mtbc]

Ha, thank you, sounds like they'll probably stay somewhat brown then as over the longer term I'm likely to drink coffee and stain them at a rather higher rate than it sounds like they'll just naturally rewhiten!

[wpadmirer]

It's probably coffee and tea. They both stain like crazy.

Have your tried charcoal toothpaste? It's good for whitening, and it's just toothpaste.

[mtbc]

I haven't, but I think I've seen it, thank you for the idea; I had no idea it might help. Mostly I use a high-fluoride toothpaste my dentist prescribes me but I also use some over-the-counter when I've already had the day's dosage so maybe I could try it for that.