Keep those stains away

We’ve all come across those people who would rather drink white wine instead of red because of the “staining effects”. If you’ve ever had a couple of glasses of red wine, you know you probably noticed those stains right away. But, contrary to popular belief, if you spend the evening sipping on white wine, you will still notice those stains, you’ll just notice them later.

In a recent study conducted by New York University, researchers compared the staining effects of red and white wine on your teeth by submerging cow teeth in wine for one hour, which are fairly similar to human teeth, according to Mark Wolff, DDS, Ph.D, a professor and chairman of the Department of Cardiology and Comprehensive Care at NYU’s College of Dentistry. The researchers then submerged the wine stained teeth in black tea, in an effort to mimic the same exposure you’d get from drinking several cups of tea, if you are a wine drinker. The white wine-soaked teeth had “significantly darker stains” thanks to the way white wine set the stage for staining.

“Red wine is an amazing staining material, but white wine makes the teeth more susceptible to staining,” says Wolff. “When you drink an acidic beverage, you wind up in a scenario where you etch the outer surface of the tooth slightly, making it more susceptible to chemicals that have pigment in them.”

“As a result, white wine drinkers can wind up with stains nearly as intense as red wine drinkers simply by following a glass or two of Chardonnay with tea, coffee or cola,” says Wolff.

The good news? The office of Dr. Shane McDowell has a variety of teeth whitening treatments to help those wine-stained teeth. Dr. McDowell uses a variety of teeth whitening techniques, including Zoom, to get your teeth their whitest and brightest. Zoom teeth whitening is the revolutionary in-office process that gets your teeth their whitest in just over an hour.

Another teeth whitening technique is the professionally dispensed home-use whitening systems, which use a lower-concentration peroxide gel than when having services done in my office. The gel is much stronger than that found in store-bought whitening kits, however, and it is applied using a set of custom-made beaching trays rather than strips, brushes or one-size-fits-all trays used with over-the-counter kits. The results are often better also because the custom trays provide even application to all the teeth, whitening the full smile.

Easy to use, professionally dispensed home-use whitening systems often yield the best long-term results, but the process does take an hour or longer. Sometimes, the gel may need to be applied overnight.

For more information about teeth whitening, please make an appointment with us. You can go online to www.myfortmyersdentist.com/appointments or call 239-936-0597.