Almost anyone who smokes, or chews tobacco, knows that it is not good for their health. Smoking can cause a myriad of oral health issues such as bad breath, inflammation of the salivary glands, oral cancer, gum disease, increased plaque buildup, and poor wound healing.

Chewing tobacco and smoking cigarettes are also known for staining teeth. Even vaping and using electronic cigarettes can leave stains.

Most people do not want their teeth to be brown or stained. Whether you have recently quit smoking or want to remove old nicotine stains, our Stony Brook dentist offers teeth whitening near you that can help brighten your smile.

How Does Nicotine Affect Your Smile?

As you already know by now, nicotine and tar, substances found in tobacco, can easily stain your teeth. The enamel (hard outer surface of the teeth) is porous, much like your skin’s surface. Nicotine gets easily trapped in these pores.

Even though it is colorless, nicotine turns to brown or yellow when it is exposed to oxygen. Your teeth are not safe when you consume smokeless tobacco. This includes vape juices and chewing tobacco.

In fact, when you chew tobacco, you are setting yourself up for bad staining. When your saliva mixes with tobacco, this causes your teeth to bathe in the dark brown tannins present in tobacco leaves.

Your teeth have rough surfaces that provide the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. When you add nicotine in the mix, you have a recipe for disaster. This is because nicotine causes dry mouth, and bacteria love such an environment. Also, smoking restricts blood flow, meaning that your wounds will heal way slower than normal.

Either way, if you consume nicotine products, general tooth discoloration is inevitable.

The silver lining is that nicotine stains are extrinsic, meaning that the stain is on the tooth’s outer layer. Fortunately, our cosmetic dentist can provide teeth whitening near you to remove the stains.

How to Remove Nicotine Stains

Ideally, proper oral hygiene should do the trick. This means that you have to brush, floss, and use antiseptic mouthwash every day. However, this is not always effective, especially when you have stubborn stains.

Our dentist near you can help you brighten your smile professionally. You can also go the DIY route but always remember that all DIY projects come with some risk. It can be a health risk or a durability risk. When it is done professionally, these risks reduce exponentially.

That being said, here are some in-office solutions for nicotine stains:

• • Dental Cleaning

Professional cleaning is an excellent way of dealing with stains. With cleaning, you hit two birds with one stone. Our Stony Brook dentist removes the stains and the tartar buildup that makes the teeth appear brown. Cleaning is an essential step before you undergo teeth whitening in Stony Brook, NY.

In the process of cleaning your teeth, our dentist can also check to see if you have gum disease. If gum disease is present, our dentist gets to treat it, since the disease exposes the root surfaces prone to staining.

• • Teeth Whitening

Dental bleaching is a fast and non-invasive process. This can be done in a single visit. During the procedure, our dentist will place a protective gel to shield your teeth; then, the whitening solution is applied. Your teeth will be exposed to a special light or laser to improve the results dramatically. In-office whitening can lighten your teeth several shades during a single visit.

If you want to do it at home, our dentist can prescribe at-home bleaching kits that come with a whitening gel and a tray. The home-whitening kits whiten your teeth over time.

• • Veneers

There are cases where the other options may not seem to work; this is where porcelain veneers come in handy. Veneers change the overall appearance of your teeth. However, this option is a bit pricey as compared to the other solutions.

In Closing

If you use nicotine, you should take care of your oral health. Besides losing your teeth’s aesthetic appeal, you can get gum disease and other severe health issues. Proper oral health has a significant impact on your quality of life.

Give Stony Brook Dental a call today to schedule a consultation for teeth whitening.

As technology continues to better dental treatment, people are quickly understanding the benefits of taking care of their oral health. When it comes to teeth, many things can go wrong. Other than needing root canal therapy, braces or aligners, people often have additional dental concerns.

People who wake up with discomfort and pain in the jaws and teeth can have a hard time going to bed at night. The tension in the jaws can be very painful for some people, which makes the single-visit dentistry very crucial.

What is a night guard?

A night guard is a device used in dental treatment for bruxism. Bruxism is a medical condition that results from excessive grinding or clenching of the upper and lower teeth. The clenching then causes a strain on the muscles of the mouth. From this, patients experience tension and pain in their jaws. A night guard is useful in preventing lockjaw and reducing the pain that comes with it.

What are some of the advantages of wearing a night guard?

A night guard may not sound like a pretty concept for a first-time user. However, putting it on might have more advantages for your situation than you may think. Here are some of them:

1. It reduces tension and pain in the jaws.

The contact between your top and lower teeth can cause some tension on your jaws. It might explain why you get up in the middle of the night with a sore jaw. If your jaws are always painful in the morning, consider visiting your dentists for dental exams and cleaning. From the visit, a recommendation to wear a night guard can help reduce the tension and pain in the jaws.

2. It prevents tooth damage.

Did you know that the teeth can perform painful grinding unintentionally? During sleep, teeth grinding can happen due to the contact of your upper and lower teeth. For most patients, they are not even aware of teeth grinding at night.

The problem with teeth grinding is that it wears down the enamel of your teeth. With time, you will experience a lot of sensitivity and tenderness. If the grinding is too excessive, you can even crack or chip your teeth. Besides, you do not want to live with the possibility of damaged teeth fillings due to grinding of the teeth. A night guard might be your only solution for this.

3. It helps prevent headaches.

The tension in your jaws can make your everyday life uncomfortable. It is not just the pain in the bone structure and jawline of your mouth that is affected. Without a night guard, you have to deal with muscle fatigues, neck pains, jaw aches, and even earaches. This is a result of excessive teeth grinding. When parts of your face are under tension or in pain, it is natural for you to experience headaches.

4. It allows for healthy sleep patterns.

Most patients that require a night guard go through a lot of hassle trying to sleep. The lack of sleep by itself can have immense negative consequences on the overall health of the patient. Instead of staying up all night because of the discomfort in your teeth and jaw, a night guard is recommended. This way, your sleep can be sound and your mornings painless.

Besides, since sleep is meant to promote the relaxation of the body and the brain, a night guard promotes relaxation. This is possible by ensuring the muscles of the mouth are relaxed through the night.

5. It helps prevent snoring.

Snoring can become very intense for people. If this becomes too common for patients, they end up suffering from sleep apnea, which is ruinous for healthy sleep patterns. By creating a space between your upper and lower teeth, a night guard allows for more air in your airflow. This considerably reduces your snoring.

6. It can help with straightening your teeth.

Even though a night guard is not the standard prescription for misaligned teeth, it can help align them. Ideally, a night guard is fitted to your dental formula. This means that with proper usage, a night guard can promote shifting of your teeth, although it will occur much more gradually than with dedicated orthodontics.