Your smile’s naturally bright color can slowly fade as plaque, tartar and stains begin to build up on your teeth. While many stains are confined to the areas of tartar buildup on your smile, some substances can actually stain your tooth’s enamel (click here for info on how to whiten your teeth).

Below are the top four reasons for tooth discoloration:

• Dental Plaque

Dental plaque is one of the leading causes of tooth discoloration. Plaque actually consists of small bacterial colonies which live inside of a person’s mouth. These bacteria consume trace amounts of sugars and other nutrients leftover from the foods people eat, and reproduce to create a thin film on the enamel surface of the teeth. If plaque isn’t completely removed within a day or two by brushing and flossing, it can solidify into tartar – a rock-hard substance that’s difficult to remove and far easier to stain than enamel.

• Coffee & Tea

Coffee and tea are two of the leading causes of yellow teeth. These popular hot drinks act as powerful dyes, and can bind instantly to tarter buildup causing difficult to remove, brown and yellow stains. Unsightly stains can also form directly on the tooth’s enamel, although that process takes far longer and usually affects only regular coffee and tea drinkers.

• Certain Foods

Some foods stain teeth much more quickly than others. Substances such as soy sauce, fruit juices, curry, dark berries, and others can dye tarter buildup and even tooth enamel with enough exposure.

• Smoking & Tobacco

Smoking and using smokeless tobacco often cause yellow, unsightly, and difficult to remove stains on teeth. Much like other substances that cause stains, tobacco discolors plaque and tarter much faster than it affects the actual tooth enamel. Regular smokers and smokeless tobacco users, however, will almost certainly experience stained tooth enamel with time.

There’s no reason to let the foods and drinks you consume affect your beautiful smile. Learn more about getting your perfect white teeth back!