What Does Your Tooth Color Mean? What's Normal and What's Not (2024)

FAQs

What is a normal tooth color? ›

Tooth enamel's natural color varies from grayish white to yellowish white. Genetics plays a significant role in determining the natural color of your teeth. Other factors, such as diet, can also affect the color. For example, excessive coffee, tea, and red wine can lead to yellower teeth.

A healthy tooth consists of nerves and living pulp. If you notice a tooth or two turning gray, blue, black, or dark pink, the nerves and pulp within the tooth may have died. Infection, trauma, and decay can cause teeth to die and turn a different color.

Since the enamel of permanent teeth is slightly transparent, the yellowish colour of the underlying dentine is shown through it. Therefore, permanent teeth will appear slightly yellowish. As we get older, the dentine increasingly grows thicker, and it is normal that our teeth become more yellowish.

Tooth color A2 is also a rather lighter shade and is therefore mostly found in younger people, since natural discoloration is usually not that far advanced here. Tooth shade A3 has a medium degree of brightness and tooth shade A3. 5 has a darker degree of brightness.

Brown, black, yellow, or white spots on the tooth. Bad breath or unpleasant taste in your mouth.

A dying tooth may appear yellow, light brown, gray, or even black. It may look almost as if the tooth is bruised. The discoloration will increase over time as the tooth continues to decay and the nerve dies. If you experience any symptoms of a dying tooth, it's important to see your dentist right away.

An infected tooth will frequently change its color from yellow to grey or dark brown color.

If the tooth is dead, it will often get darker in color, and a person may notice a yellow, gray, or black discoloration. A change in color usually occurs because the red blood cells are dying. This is a very similar effect to bruising.

A dead or dying tooth should be treated quickly because it can become infected and have negative effects on the jaw, gums and other teeth. “Dead tooth” is not always an accurate description. Although the pulp may have died, usually the tooth can be saved with a root canal.

Using a four-shade guide, most people have teeth that are A3 in color, meaning that they are somewhat reddish brown. This is considered the average, natural tooth shade. Nowadays, however, many people want their teeth to look whiter and brighter and are requesting that their A3 teeth improve in color.

What color are the strongest teeth? ›

The strength of your teeth is determined by the density of the enamel and the overall health of the tooth structure. Factors such as genetics, diet, oral hygiene, and dental care can all affect the strength of your teeth. Therefore, the color of your teeth has nothing to do with their strength.

The pointed ends of the top teeth should fit perfectly between two teeth in the bottom. The backs of the upper front teeth should rest in gentle contact with the fronts of the lower ones. Essentially, your bite should “close”. If your front upper teeth stick out past your lower teeth, this is called an overbite.

A1 vs B1 Tooth Color

Logically, one might think that A1 is the whitest tooth shade because A is the first letter in the alphabet. However, the B1 tooth shade is actually the lightest, followed by A1. This is by virtue of its coloring (reddish yellow) as opposed to the coloring of A teeth (reddish brown).

Shade analysis

As a result, it was found that the colour C3 (Vita Classical) with a slight increase in brightness value is the shade that comes closest to the natural tooth.

Generally speaking, the natural color of teeth is considered to be A3, which means that a slight reddish brown tint is normal. To put things into perspective, B1 is the closest your teeth can come to being naturally white. B1 is significantly lighter than A3, however.

A1 vs B1 Tooth Color

Logically, one might think that A1 is the whitest tooth shade because A is the first letter in the alphabet. However, the B1 tooth shade is actually the lightest, followed by A1. This is by virtue of its coloring (reddish yellow) as opposed to the coloring of A teeth (reddish brown).

Teeth are Bright White by Nature

Natural teeth are normally tinged with grey or yellow. Basically, it's the thickness and shade of your enamel which impact the color of your teeth. Don't worry if you brush daily and your teeth still remain yellow. It could just be that they're that shade naturally.

One of things we must remember is that brown staining on teeth is completely normal, and occurs in everybody for a variety of reasons, such as from eating various foods and drinks, or by habits such as smoking and inadequate brushing.

If your teeth are significantly yellower than your eyes, then you may need to check in with your dentist. On the other hand, if you plan on bleaching your teeth, make sure that it doesn't get much whiter than your eyes, as it can make you look like Ross from that episode of Friends!