Metal Mouth Message Board

hi all, I've had my braces for about half a year now and recently I've noticed on several teeth there are pretty bad amounts of staining on there. where the bracket divides the tooth, the top are still white but below the bracket to the gumline there are dark outlines and yellow staining.

I asked my orthodontist about this and he said it must be something I've been eating because the powerchain also is stained, but to continue brushing like I normally do with Oral B Triumph with orthodonitc tip and it should be fine. this was last month and while I have been maintaining the same brushing routine, it looks like the stained areas are getting darker. both my general dentist and orthodontist say I am deligent with my oral hygiene so I was wondering why this is happening despite using an electric toothbrush and mouthwash, and why it's only below the bracket to the gumline the staining is occuring? thank you!

a friend of mine for some reason has really porous teeth and when for example she would drink red wine her teeth were instantly red, she has since stopped and switched to white but sorry to be personal are you on the pill as i have heard alsong the grape vine that it can make changes to your body ie tooth surface maybe it could be something hormonal if both your reg dentist and ortho are saying your oral hygiene are ok. im assuming your a girl or maybe it could be food or a spice in food that your teeth just absorb do you eat any pungent spices? sorry i couldnt help more, sorry to be personal


good luck huggy

thank you huggypillow! no, I don't drink, smoke or take contraceptives, nor do i eat spicy food so this is kind of confusing me. for the oral B triumph I always put it on deep cleaning setting so I do get a good clean with each brush, and I use the Crest anti mouthwash. the only things I eat frequently are subway sandwiches with honey mustard and avocado so I'm wondering if that is causing it. also since I can't chew on gum now I've been susbtituting that with those Spry anticavity mints, I am eating a large jar a week so maybe that is causing it? do you know if Xylitol has this effect on tooth discoloration? thank you!

i think that xylitol is a natural sweetener in gum is that correct, i would say maybe quite the mustard is your enemy as it is very acidic that may be causing the enamal to thin thats just my uneducated guess (im not a dentist) you see in mustard there is tomato sauce or ketchup, vinegar, mustard powder and in the ketchup there is brown vinegar and white vinegar. lots of acids in condiments. maybe stop it for a week or 2 and see if it's any better you may be re dosing yourself with staining without knowing it.

I don't know if Crest Anti is a Pro Health line product, but the Crest Pro Health mouth wash has been shown to cause significant staining. It is even difficult for a hygienist to get off (but possible). Someone here wrote to crest about this...the thread is on here somewhere but I can't remember the title. Try to search for "Crest Pro Health staining" within the forum and you should get lots of info.

http://www.amazon.com/Crest-Pro-Health- ... B000BS6VWC

I found this link where even some dental professionals are talking about Crest PH stain. This must be a nightmare for the company. I know I'm staying away from of their products now. I can imagine many others are doing the same.

Huggypillow wrote:i think that xylitol is a natural sweetener in gum is that correct, i would say maybe quite the mustard is your enemy as it is very acidic that may be causing the enamal to thin thats just my uneducated guess (im not a dentist) you see in mustard there is tomato sauce or ketchup, vinegar, mustard powder and in the ketchup there is brown vinegar and white vinegar. lots of acids in condiments. maybe stop it for a week or 2 and see if it's any better you may be re dosing yourself with staining without knowing it.

yes, it is I was looking for a sugar free substitute for gum and this products received nice reviews. it's possible it might be the mustard or maybe the avocado spread also, I was wondering if any other members here might have had similar experiences, but yes I will keep away from that for awhile and see if it improves. now how do I go about removing what is currently stained, can my general dentist do that or do I need to buy a tooth whitening product because I'm really worried now it might be permanent and when I have the brackets removed my top area will be white while the lower half is stained! thanks again huggypillow!

lilone wrote:I don't know if Crest Anti is a Pro Health line product, but the Crest Pro Health mouth wash has been shown to cause significant staining. It is even difficult for a hygienist to get off (but possible). Someone here wrote to crest about this...the thread is on here somewhere but I can't remember the title. Try to search for "Crest Pro Health staining" within the forum and you should get lots of info.

thank you lilone, I was not aware of this and will search for that thread. this is the one I am using



which is a better alternative mouthwash then if this is causing issues? thank you!

I would say you just found the cause of your staining. The blue bottle is the worst offender, from reviews, but all Pro Health products cause it...even the tooth paste. Everyone has different preferences for mouthwash but try to stay away from products with cetylpyridinium chloride in them.

thanks again lilone, I am reading the link you posted and am appalled how this product is still on the market after the several years of people expericing the staining!

do you know of other anti-cavity mouth washes that are cetylpyridinium chloride and alcohol free? sorry for all the questions but have you or others here experienced this before, if so what was the best way to remove the staining thank you!!

To be honest, others on here use products containing cetylpyridinium chloride and have had no issue...it's only the Crest Pro Health that seems to be doing it. But since Crest says that the staining product is cetylpyridinium chloride, I'd say stay away from it just in case. I use listerine but many people don't like the burn (though Listerine Zero is apparently alcohol free). I've also used Biotene.

From what I've read (I'm not a professional), I think a good clean with the hygienist is the only way to get rid of the Pro Health stain. If you have brackets, maybe it would be a good idea to get the wire removed at the ortho before going to your cleaning appointment and then have the wire put back in afterward (so that they can reach all stained areas better).

Good luck and please let us know how it works!

lilone wrote:To be honest, others on here use products containing cetylpyridinium chloride and have had no issue...it's only the Crest Pro Health that seems to be doing it. But since Crest says that the staining product is cetylpyridinium chloride, I'd say stay away from it just in case. I use listerine but many people don't like the burn (though Listerine Zero is apparently alcohol free). I've also used Biotene.

From what I've read (I'm not a professional), I think a good clean with the hygienist is the only way to get rid of the Pro Health stain. If you have brackets, maybe it would be a good idea to get the wire removed at the ortho before going to your cleaning appointment and then have the wire put back in afterward (so that they can reach all stained areas better).

Good luck and please let us know how it works!

thank you again lilone! your help and suggestions are much appreciated, will keep you posted

Hey Quiggle i agree with lilone,

maybe schedule a clean for your next adjustment and when the wire is out they might be able to really clean the surface of the teeth for you, i mean if they can manage to get rid of coffee and smoking stains on people who are less vigilent thn im sure they can do something for you.

Huggy

I use ACT Total Care mouthwash; the blue one (Icy Clean Mint), which does contain 11% alcohol, but does not burn my mouth at all. I love the taste, and have never experienced any staining (and I have clear brackets and clear ligs). The green one (Fresh Mint) has no alcohol in it.

http://www.actfluoride.com/acttotalcare.html

Here is a pic of the bottles:

Huggypillow wrote:Hey Quiggle i agree with lilone,

maybe schedule a clean for your next adjustment and when the wire is out they might be able to really clean the surface of the teeth for you, i mean if they can manage to get rid of coffee and smoking stains on people who are less vigilent thn im sure they can do something for you.

Huggy

thanks again Huggypillow, I'm going to check and see if they can do that. I was reading about Biotene and is that only used for dry mouth because I don't seem to have a problem with that area. is it supposed to be used as a pre-brushing rinse or post-brushing and does it help with anti-cavity?

catgyrl wrote:I use ACT Total Care mouthwash; the blue one (Icy Clean Mint), which does contain 11% alcohol, but does not burn my mouth at all. I love the taste, and have never experienced any staining (and I have clear brackets and clear ligs). The green one (Fresh Mint) has no alcohol in it.

http://www.actfluoride.com/acttotalcare.html

Here is a pic of the bottles:

two_bottles_totalcare.jpg

thank you catgyrl, I used to use this product before switching to Crest because for some reason this mouth wash was causing my throad to dry at night and I'd wake up the next morning with a sore throat, which worried me. I'll take a look at Biotene at the local pharmacy and compare that with Act, thank you!