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CLINICALFEATURE
by Dr George Freedman
Eliminating
Dental Stains
Dental stains are of great concern to the vast majority of the population.
Tooth discoloration has been made socially and culturally unacceptable by
the ubiquitous presence of bright, white smiles on television, in films, and
the print media. From a professional perspective, dental stains contribute to
plaque accumulation, the increased retention of bacteria and their associated acidic
environment, and eventually, to tooth demineralization and decay. The elimination of
dental stains by the dentist and the auxiliary staff on a regular basis (twice per year)
has contributed greatly to the improvement of dental health in the general
population over the past 50 years.
As patients have become more aware of their own dental health, they have
increasingly demanded not only healthier teeth, but healthier-looking teeth as well.
Typically, more than 80% of individuals surveyed indicate an active interest in the
whiteness (and thus an active concern for discoloration) of their teeth. The
appearance of non-stained teeth is the major visible component of dental health,
and as such, is used by patients to gauge their oral health and hygiene. Routine
scaling and prophylaxis, on a bi-annual basis, is well accepted by both
professionals and the public, and is effective in the removal of dental stain at least
for a short time after the recare visit. However, the daily accumulation of dental
stain, particularly after meals, is a recurrent problem that is more difficult to address.
When these stains accumulate in public situations where the dental appearance is
an important factor, they can adversely affect the outcome of the event, whether
business or social.
Certainly, brushing and flossing after eating
can eliminate the most obvious
discolorations, but these activities are not
always practical, particularly in the typical
restaurant or home setting of most meals. It
would be preferable to have a relatively
innocuous, but effective, destaining
procedure that can be readily accomplished,
unobtrusively and quickly, even under
conditions of intense public scrutiny. Most
people, consciously or subconsciously, tend
to wipe their tongues across their anterior
teeth to remove stains, but without a
dentifrice agent, this action is largely
ineffective.
Figure 1 SuperSmile Quikee dentifrice
The objective of this clinical study was to
examine the effects of a commercially-available dentifrice (SuperSmile Quikee)
upon the removal of food induced dental stains (Figure 1). This study was designed
to objectively evaluate the immediate effect of SuperSmile Quikee on recently
30 Dental Asia • May / June 2008