Brushing too hard can leave your teeth looking yellow

Dental hygiene is, of course, incredibly important. The truth of the matter, however, is that our teeth naturally become more yellow the older we get. Once this becomes more noticeable, people tend to brush harder in a bid to remove the stains from the teeth in order to get their pearly whites back to their original shine. But, one dentist explains that doing so will actually make the yellowing worse.

In a video on his TikTok page, @Doctortristanpeh explains why our teeth lose their shine and how brushing too hard can make our teeth more yellow. Captioned, ‘Let's find out why we have yellow teeth,’ the video has racked up more than 150,000 views, with many realising that they have been brushing their teeth wrong for so many years.

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Dr Tristan Peh explains that the outer layer of teeth, known as the enamel, is white in colour, but the next layer underneath, known as dentine, is yellow. As the enamel starts to wear off, the dentine’s yellow colour starts showing through and scrubbing them harder simply chips more and more enamel off the teeth, leaving them looking more yellow than before.

"Many people think that brushing teeth harder make them whiter. Brushing too hard wears away the white teeth enamel. When the enamel wears away, the teeth become more yellow and can also become more sensitive,” the dentist explains. "So brush gently and use a softer brush."

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When asked how to keep teeth looking white, Dr Peh says that patients can explore treatments or products on offer with their dentist or use whitening trays to help restore the colour.

"I used to think that if I brush harder my teeth will be more clean," one user replied. "Yes that's really what I see in my patients over my last 17 years as a dentist. A lot of people think that way," Dr Peh replies.

Image courtesy: iStock