Those PINK tablets for tarter ..HELP!!

[CanehdianGal]

How do I get the BRIGHT PINK off my tongue/cheek???? ughhhhhhh I have to go out now and i have a pink mouth..I've been rinsing and brushing my teeth/tongue cheek for 15 mins..Not working. I"m never using these things again.

[rsprouse]

How do I get the BRIGHT PINK off my tongue/cheek???? ughhhhhhh I have to go out now and i have a pink mouth..I've been rinsing and brushing my teeth/tongue cheek for 15 mins..Not working. I"m never using these things again.

It is called a disclosing tablet and it stains certain forms of plaque causing bacteria. The only way to get rid of the color is to remove the plaque that is causing the stain. The color should minimize with brushing, but will ultimately disappear as the tissue naturally sloughs off and is restored.

Good Luck,
Rory

[Jenny5]

Oh gosh, those things are a mess! My ortho actually told me to cut them in half instead of using the whole tablet for this reason, but I didn't have anything handy to cut with, so used the whole thing anyway. Big mistake! I cleaned my mouth very very thoroughly beforehand, but they still managed to color a lot more than plaque, including my hands, my sink, basically my entire mouth, including brackets, gums, lips, tongue... I was able to get it all off after a few brushings, but I will have to think twice before using them again!

[bbsadmin]

That is the number one reason I don't carry those disclosing tablets at DentaKit.com -- they stain light colored or clear ligatures and can be very messy! I learned that the hard way myself when I had my braces on!

If you tongue is stained, don't worry, it will come off after a day or two, like everyone says.

I don't think the stains come off of ligatures, however. Your brackets should not be stained from the tablets, even if they are ceramic -- only the ligatures get stained.

[amd]

I don't even know where you can buy the disclosing tablets here in Canada. I do remember getting them from the dentist when I was a kid though.

My ortho gave me a liquid plaque finder. The liquid is purple. You place 1-2 drops on your tongue, slosh it around and spit after 30 seconds. Same deal, the darker the spot the worse the problem area is. You definitely don't use this before a romantic evening. But it works. I only use it once a week. I actually find it useful for teaching my 8 year old how to brush properly.

[Jenny5]

Try Cool Agent Blue instead. It rinses away easily after brushing.

Denise - I bought Agent Cool Blue last night based on your recommendation. Haven't tried it yet, but it was on sale in the supermarket. Score! I never knew something like this existed.

[acrobat]

i wish i had read this before i just used such tablet an hour ago

I think there should be a big warning on it: don't do this before you go in public!
Luckily i was so shocked of the huge amount of blue (and afterwards some red) that my mouth turned into that i brushed it of immediatly and it came of quite well.

[LucyVanity]

When I used those, I sawed them in half with a regular dinner knife. The most irritating thing for me was when the bristles on my toothbrush turned pink. XD not sure why... that was just very irritating.

[Jenny5]

Welcome back, KK! Perhaps your ortho has provided a better brand of disclosing tablets because I had the same problems as Denise and the others. I brushed (with both kinds of brushes), waterpicked, and flossed my teeth thoroughly before using them as my goal was to see no color and instead, it turned my whole mouth (and toothbrush, and hands, and sink) pink. Then, I bought Agent Cool Blue, did the same cleaning routine (actually a little less) and when I used it after brushing, I got an A+. I have used it again since and again, did very well. I take a lot of time and care in brushing my teeth -- my hygenist and dentist always give me a glowing report for that -- so I must come to the conclusion that my disclosing tablets just didn't work properly. Perhaps I didn't use them correctly though. Maybe I should have used more water to swish the crunched up tablet around? My ortho said just a tiny bit of water, so that's what I did. Anyway, Agent Cool Blue is the same thing in liquid form and it's working for me!

[LucyVanity]

Lucy did you brush, floss, use interdental brushes and rinse first ... coz if you did and you still had enough plaque to turn your toothbrush pink ... ophs ... sounds like you need to review how to keep your oral hygiene up to scratch.

Haha let's not jump to conclusions. I usually did a quick brush and rinse first knowing full well that it wouldn't get rid of everything and then chewed the tablet and then went through the complete routine to get rid of everything. So brushing all the pink stuff off the second time was what made my toothbrush so obnoxious-looking. I didn't see a point in going through all the work before chewing the tablet because I couldn't see exactly what I was going for anyway, and the only reason I did anything at all before chewing the tablet was so my teeth would be less bright pink for the second round. If the color wasn't such an eye sore, I would have just chewed the tablet at the very beginning.