A dentist has revealed the two common toothbrushing mistake that could lead you to suffer from yellow teeth.
Dentist Ferakh Hamid, from Aesthetique Dental Care in Leeds, said people were making two easily fixable mistakes when it came to the yellowing of teeth.
The first, was that some people opt to not wet the toothbrush before brushing in the belief doing so would help banish unsightly stains.
But Dr Hamid said so called ‘dry brushing’ could actually make teeth look duller, and by extension, more yellow.
‘Before you start brushing, it’s a good idea to wet your toothbrush. This little step makes it easier to spread the toothpaste all over your teeth, making cleaning more effective,’ he said.
Dentist Ferakh Hamid, from Aesthetique Dental Care in Leeds, said Brits were making two easily fixable mistakes when it came to the yellowing of teeth
‘Dry brushing might seem good for getting rid of surface stains at first, but without water, toothpaste doesn’t spread well, leading to dull teeth.’
He said the second mistake Brits are making was brushing too soon after consuming acidic food drinks.
Acidic drinks, such as fruit juice, wine, and both sugary and sugar-free fizzy drink and foods like oranges and grapefruit can weaken the tooth enamel.
And Dr Hamid explained brushing while the enamel is weakened could lead to teeth looking more yellow.
Brushing too soon after eating acidic foods can wear down your tooth enamel,’ he said.
‘This reveals the yellower layer beneath and makes your teeth look more yellow.
‘To avoid this, it’s better to wait a while after eating acidic foods before you brush, ensuring your enamel stays strong and your teeth stay healthy.’
Many dentists recommend waiting at least an hour after consuming acidic food and drink before brushing in order to allow the enamel to recover.
Dr Hamid’s comments come just days another dentist warned about the dangers of using whitening toothpaste.
In a viral video that has now been watched more than 2million times, the oral health specialist told his TikTok followers that whitening toothpastes ‘do not actually whiten your teeth’.
While they can make your smile appear whiter at first by scrubbing away darker enamel, over time, the abrasive ingredients lead to thinner, more yellow, and sensitive teeth, he said.
This is because eroding away protective tooth enamel exposes dentin — the main part of the tooth that has a yellow tint.
It comes as Brits continue to struggle to access affordable NHS subsidised dental care.
Latest official data shows just 40 per cent of adults have in England have seen an NHS dentist in the last two years as of June this year.
This compares to almost 50 per cent in late 2019, just before the Covid pandemic forced many dentists to temporarily shut their doors as the nation went into lockdown.
For children, who have free access to health service dental care, the proportion of those who have seen an NHS dentist in 12 months has fallen to 56 per cent in June this year. This down from almost 60 per cent pre-pandemic.
NHS dentist attendance figures for both adults and children dived off a cliff during the Covid pandemic as practices shut as part of lockdown rules and stopped offering treatments.
But it has failed to bounce back despite the darkest days of the pandemic being well into the past.
Industry experts suggest this is because offering NHS treatment is not as lucrative as going private.
Old NHS contracts for dentists paid them for batches of work carried out rather than for individual treatments, regardless how complicated a particular case might be.
In practice, this meant NHS dentists were paid the same for treating a patient that needed 10 fillings as for a patient that needed just one.
This resulted in dentists losing money from treating some NHS patients as what they were paid didn’t cover the costs of doing the procedure.
While this contact has now been reformed, the British Dental Association (BDA) estimates thousands of NHS dentists abandoned or vastly scaled back their NHS work post-pandemic.
Compounding the crisis is that as more dentists ditch or vastly reduce their NHS work, those who remain risk become overwhelmed.
A BDA post-pandemic survey of dentists in 2022 suggested three quarters were experiencing burnout, feeling unable to spend sufficient time with their patients to give them the care they needed.
And, much like with the GP appointments crisis, as patients struggle to get access frustrations can boil over.
The same BDA survey found 86 per cent of dentists said their practice had received physical or verbal abuse from patients.
The NHS dental appointments crisis has led to an increasing number of Brits heading overseas for treatment or even performing gruesome DIY dental surgeries at home using tools like pliers as they are unable to afford private care in the UK.
