Most
grown-ups tend to stand in front of mirrors and, at times, worry over the
yellowish appearance of their teeth. It may make them feel self-conscious of
their appearance and hesitant to smile.

Ayurveda,
the science of life, has solutions to this and help you get milky white
teeth, putting the glow on your smiles. While some treatment methods
give instant relief, others are preventive in nature and should be practiced on
a daily basis.

The
teeth, generally, is light yellow to grayish or bluish white in colour. Since
enamel is semi-translucent, the colour of dentin and structures underneath
enamel strongly affects the appearance of a tooth.

So
what causes teeth discolouration? While Yellow tooth is not a serious medical
condition, the same may be caused due to the following reasons:-

Poor Oral Hygiene — Improper brushing, flossing or rinsing
your mouth causes accumulation of plaque and tartars, thus making them yellow.

Getting Old — Thick enamel looks white, but thin enamel
allows dentin tones to show through, making teeth look yellowish from outside.
As a person gets old his enamel gets thin making it appear yellow.

Fluorine content of water — High fluoride levels of water can result in
yellow blotching of teeth.

Smoking — Tobacco products likes cigarettes and pipe
smoke can stain teeth due to accumulation of tannin.

Dry mouth — Saliva neutralizes acid and washes it away.
But those who have dry mouth miss out this protective effect. People who
breathe through their mouth, because of blocked nasal passages or other medical
causes or even as a habit, have dry mouth. This decreases saliva and hence
doesn’t neutralise the acidic pH in the mouth completely which puts them at
risk of developing thin tooth enamel, thus making it look yellowish.

Constant intake of sour foods and
drinks — Sour foods, like sour candies,
oranges, soda etc, decrease the pH of mouth thereby increasing
demineralisation. This makes enamel thin and makes teeth appear yellow.

Medicines — Some antibiotics, anti-histamines, drugs for
high blood pressure and anti psychotic medications can cause yellow blotching
of teeth of children younger than 8 years old.

Diseases — Sometimes even chronic diseases can affect
enamel and lead to yellow discoloration of teeth. Even chemotherapy or
radiation therapy may discolour teeth. In these cases, the discoloration is
more of a brownish colour.

Hereditary — Yellow teeth can even be as a result of
inheritance.

What
are the Ayurvedic methods to remove yellow colour?

Brushing your teeth with herbal
powders (DantaDhavana)

Ayurveda
advises to use herbal drugs which are Kashaya(astringent), Katu (pungent) or
Tikta (bitter) Rasa (taste) in nature. Drugs with these Rasa have the ability
to scrap plaques (doshas) from the teeth. 
They are anti-microbial in nature and hence prevent the accumulation of
bacterial colonies in the teeth. These drugs will even remove the yellowish
discoloration of teeth and make them appear glistening white. The herbal drugs
which are specifically used are Arka, Nyagrodha, Arjuna, Khadira & Karanja.

ARKA
— The skin on the root helps in removing bacteria and cleans the plaque.

NYAGRODHA
— It restores back the colour

ARJUNA
— It helps in repair of the damaged tissue.

KHADIRA
— This drug is specifically beneficial for teeth (dantya) and anti-microbial
activities (krimighna)

Apart
from these, following drugs are also helpful in whitening the teeth

GHRIHADHOOMA
— It is the kitchen soot. It appears in abundance when firewood is burnt in
kitchen for cooking.

YAVAKSHARA
— It is the alkali preparation from yava (barley). This helps in removing the
plaques from teeth, thereby making it white.

LOHA
BHASMA — It is calcined iron which has a scarifying action to remove the
doshas in teeth.

TRIKATU
— Trikatu is the combination of Shunti (Ginger), Pippali (Long Pepper), Kana
(Black Pepper)

HONEY
— It is has a scarifying (vilekhana) action. It is heals the wound (vrana) and
cleanses it. It has the capacity to enter even into the minute pores in the
body (sookshma) and helps in clearing the pathways. It helps to maintain the
colour or complexion (varnyam)

Ideal
tooth powder to remove yellow discoloration

Combination
of the powder of the following drugs is an ideal tooth powder to make teeth
shine white.

Grihadhooma………….20
gms

Khadira………….15
gms

Asana
coorna………….15 gms

Trikatucoorna………….10
gms

Arjunacoorna………….10
gms

Arkacoorna………….10
gms

Haridracoorna………….5
gms

Nimbacoorna………….5
gms

Yavakshara………….5
gms

Lohabhasma………….5gms

Nasya

Nasya
is a very potent mode of treatment for teeth disorders. Nasya with anutaila (an
ayurvedic pharmaceutical medicine) helps in decreasing the yellow colour of
teeth. Two drops of anutaila (called as pratimarshanasya) instilled separately
in both the nostrils helps to gain strength of enamel. Anutaila contains goat
milk and sesame oil as its bases.

Eating black sesame seeds

Eating
black sesame seeds daily is extremely helpful in preventing yellowish
discolouration of teeth. Sesame seeds contain calcium, phosphorous, iron and
vitamin B complex. Sesame provides strength (bala) to all the parts of teeth.
Chew 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds daily and then drink cool water. This aqueous
medium helps in easy remineralisation of the enamel and this strengthens, thus
making it whiter.

What
are the practices to maintain white teeth?

AVOID

Smoking

Drinking
cold water

Caffeine
containing food stuffs like coffee

Carbonated
drinks like soda, fizzes or cokes.

Over
eating sour fruits and vegetables

Use
of baking soda to clean the teeth.(Baking soda has a corrosive action and it
may provide a whitening effect temporarily, but its constant usage may decrease
the strength of enamel, thereby making the teeth more yellow).

Use
of Lemon and salt. (This combination is widely practiced to remove the
yellowish discoloration of teeth. Both these are scarifying agents and remove
the doshas from teeth. But many have reported of getting sensitive teeth on
applying it. This is because of the acidic pH of the lemon. Secondly practicing
this for a long time may fasten the degradation of enamel, thereby making it
more yellow.)

PRACTICE

Finger
brush your teeth and wash your mouth after having any food substance. This will reduce accumulation of food wastes on teeth surface.

Avoid
snacks between meals. This allows your saliva to dilute acids in your
mouth.

Drink
water after eating or drinking any acidic food to prevent tooth erosion.

Eat an apple a day to keep teeth white.

Eat
strawberries as they help in maintaining teeth white.

(The
article is written by Dr Praveen Balakrishnan B.A.M.S., M.S. (Ayurveda),
Assistant Professor, Department of Shalakya Tantra (Eye & ENT Section), Vishnu
Ayurveda College, Shoranur.)