My teeth are yellow.

[KatK]

Ok, I am really starting to struggle with this. I mentioned the fact that my teeth are now YELLOW to the assistant and she was like, oh that's just the stained glue, we like to cover the whole tooth with the glue. And she's right, When I use a mirror that magnifies my teeth I can see parts of my white teeth under what looks to be a layer of something stained.

She seemed completely unphased by this, but when you look at me... my teeth are AWFULLY YELLOW! You can see this in PICTURES also! I am so embarrassed by them!!!!!! I saw my mom for the first time in months and first thing she said was "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR TEETH??" (Thanks, mom) Does anyone else have to go through this? I have no idea what to do!

And I got my elastics at my last appointment... which is apparently "The beginning of the end" for me, and she said I might only have 6 months left. The doc didn't say this to me, because the doctor never TALKS TO ME!! i'm excited that it might be true, that I might only have 6 months left. But in the mean time, I am devasted by the yellow teeth. Any thoughts? Thanks and sorry so long...

[Andantae]

KatK,

I got my braces on in May and within 3 days I saw my teeth getting more yellow eacn day. I called my ortho and went back in on day 5 and had them grind the adhesive off. At my 1st adjustment they grinded more glue off which they couldn't reach because of the arch wire.

Suffice it to say, I have no problem with my tpa, lingual arch wire, dealing with all the baggae that comes with braces, future bsso surgery, but I refused to embark on this 2 year journey with yellow teeth because someone gets liberal with the adhesive. Fine, if you want to make sure the brackets are well adhered, but then take the residual off!

I hear you. My teeth looked just awful and there was no legitimate reason for it. I would call and and ask to go in for a quick appointment. It only took a couple minutes to grind it off. I found my ortho & assistants were more than acommodating to do this. Frankly, I think they felt bad about it and THEY brought it up on my 1st adjustment appointment.

Good luck!

Andi

[jennielee81]

I also can imagine that all that glue would reduce the reflective quality of the teeth causing them to look even more strange.

See if they'll grind that excess off! I can't see any reason to have glue spread out over the entire tooth. It would be like spreading glue over an entire sheet of paper to glue down one square.
Good luck to you!

[Miss Smiley]

I just recently found an excess spot of bonding material but I hardly noticed it because it was clear. After 6 months of cleaning around, you would think I would have seen it. I pointed out another spot to one of the assistants last adjustment and it took all but a second to take it off. I'm not sure of the staining because all of my bonding is clear but I kept trying to clean it with a proxabrush thinking it was just some saliva during a picture.

[SandraJones]

Hey, I'm gad this topic came up !!! Because my some of my teeth seem more yellow now than before and I also found a blob of adhesive on one of my upper lateral incisors. And now a mystery make sense ... when I first got my braces and I was flossing, the floss was catching at the edges of the teeth where it never used to catch before, and I was mystified ! I'll bet it was residual adhesive ! Some of it seems to have worn off.

[breda206]

This is bugging me also. I have some extra bonding material on my teeth and I keep meaning to ask the ortho's assistant if they can take it off but I always chicken out when it comes to it.
I do have a check up with my dentist on monday and if I don't have any other problems (cavities or decay) the dentist will clean my teeth. So hopefully he'll get all of it. If not I plan to call the ortho's office before my appointment and say I want something done about it. My mom reckons my teeth are decaying but I keep telling her its the glue!!

[SandraJones]

I scrutinized my teeth last night looking into my super duper 10x magnifying mirror (not for the faint of heart when you're looking at your skin !) and I can see glue residue on most of my teeth ! No wonder they look less shiny and more yellow. I drink coffee in the morning, it would be just my luck if this glue absorbs coffee color.

Miss Smiley, what did the orthodontist's assistant do to clean it off ? Apply some kind of remover or use a polishing tool ?

[jennielee81]

The glue that my ortho used didn't stain at all from coffee.

I drink it every morning as well, and if you looked at the cement on my teeth it was always whiter than my teeth.

I know that the cement used on my lower lingual bonded retainer is still very white inspite of my daily coffee habit. It is entirely exposed to everything I eat and drink.

THere is bound to be a little cement peaking out around the brackets. I'll bet the process of cleaning any of it off at this point would most likely dislodge a bracket.

YOu're right Sandra, that 10X mirror sure is scary!!!

[SandraJones]

Glad to hear that the glue isn't stained by coffee !

The 10x mirror is great to give it to a guy to look into, most guys don't even own a magnifying mirror, or if they do it's only 2x or 3x. One guy held it up to his face and shrieked ! The one I've got is by Scunci, it's about 4" diameter. Highly recommended because there is almost no distortion and the thing small enough to carry in a small purse.

[Miss Smiley]

Sorry for the delayed response! She just used a little hand bit and took it off, a little air but nothing painful besides the sound.

[sammylynn]

yes I have the same issue, my teeth are yellow because of the layer of glue. I know they say not to use white strips but every now and then I will use one and it cleans it up, I figure if theres a layer of glue and I only do this very infrequently then it shouldn't matter as I am not actually bleaching my teeth just the glue. Hope this helps

[KatK]

Hi All! Thanks for your replies!!!

I drink coffee every morning - and this does seem to make the glue more yellow! I brush my teeth, and it fades a bit. And it looked pretty good after I had a dentist appointment.... but I'm back to where I started. Maybe I will start using that listerine whitening mouth rinse stuff. Anyone have any luck with this?

Yeah, those magnifying mirrors are scary. I should throw mine out.

[Debbra]

I really noticed it a lot today...pretty depressing. I can live with the braces, but yellow teeth is a bit much. I'm worried about using white strips...has anyone tried scraping it off? I can feel a dull, veneer over the surfaces...very weird. I do drink coffee and drank some red wine this weekend...I imagine that contributes.

[jennielee81]

Use whitening toothpaste. They work fairly well in removing the surface stains. NEVER use white strips or gels (no matter what anyone says) as they will whiten the deeper parts of the teeth and the area covered with the brackets will not be whitened.

This is quite a bandwagon people are jumping on here! Having braces will not make your teeth yellow, there must be something else going on.

[KatK]

I really don't think that my TEETH are yellow... it's the stuff that the ortho put on my teeth that is staining yellow. Once the braces come off, that stuff will be scrubbed off, and I'll be good to go.

I got damon clears, and if I could choose again, probably wouldn't go with the clear type. I think that against my teeth they make them appear more yellow because they are so clear. It's all about the illusion/shadowing.

I have decided not to listen to my mother, and realize it's not THAT bad! (However, when I drink coffee the stains are worse, I brush my teeth, and I'm able to scrub some of it off... so I just brush more often!)