What’s happened to my teeth??!

[Notmyname21]

Non-smoker, don’t drink alcohol, have about 2 cups of tea a day.

I try to look after my teeth - daily flossing, electric toothbrush and have always been quite proud of them.

The other morning I noticed that one of my front teeth looks very slightly darker than the rest and has brown staining in the ridges. This has appeared overnight, out of nowhere and although it’s subtle, I feel very self conscious.

Any ideas what has caused this and how to tackle it?

Weirdly I had something similar a few years ago. Woke to find a brown stain on my tooth (think it was the same one). It looked awful. I changed my toothpaste as I didn’t know what else to do and it disappeared in a few days. I’ve tried changing my toothpaste again this time but no improvement…

Do you drink a lot of coke? My ex had terrible brown teeth, he did smoke, but drunk a huge amount of coke. My bro also has bad teeth, he smokes but also drinks loads of tea. Although you did say you don't smoke or drink much tea. How annoying for you!

No, I don’t drink Coke at all and barely touch fizzy drinks. Just the 2x daily teas and water.

And it’s just weird that I went to bed with perfectly white teeth and woke up to this!

Have you been using corsodyl mouthwash. That can stain teeth brown

This could be what is referred to as a 'dead tooth'.

No, I don’t use mouthwash as my dentist has always advised not to (as they don’t really do anything).

Dead tooth?!! Why would that be? Would it need removing? (I am booking a dentist appointment, by the way!)

Just looked up dead tooth - argh, could be that BUT I forgot to mention, I also have 2 other small brown dots on two other teeth that appeared at the same time - ??

Nothing lasts forever

Fluoride?
Too much fluoride can turn the teeth brown and other things. Are you supplementing??

Do you mouth breathe at night at all? A lack of saliva can prevent stains being washed away naturally. A dentist will get them off easily.

I don’t take fluoride supplements.

As for mouth breathing - I have no idea!

Have you taken doxycycline recently?

Any knocks or bumps to the area? Do you share a bed with someone who could have accidentally whacked you during the night (you’d be surprised you can sleep through such a thing)? Any sensitivity, pain? It could be a dead tooth, and unfortunately, there might be no more reason to it dying than simple bad luck.

Go to the dentist - you need an x-ray.

It’s either staining, which they can usually remove, or the tooth is dead and you need root canal.

Either way, the dentist can sort it.

Are you on any medication? Some can affect teeth but I'm afraid I don't know which ones or how.

Don’t panic it’s very common - can be due to a knock, a filling migrating, or sometimes it just happens.

Root canal isn’t as bad as its reputation so don’t worry too much - you’ll be numbed up and won’t feel a thing. Plus if the tooth is already dead, there’s nothing to feel!

If the dots are on neighbouring teeth you’ve maybe knocked a few, or a nerve near all of them has died.

Are you taking iron supplements? I was taking liquid iron at one point and it caused me absolutely horrendous tooth staining (fixed by a dentist clean, thankfully)