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• Are You Born With Yellow Teeth?

A question came through Twitter over the weekend. What determines the color of peoples teeth?


There are 3 components of teeth, Enamel, Dentin, and the Nerve.


Enamel is the hardest substance in our bodies and when well mineralized as it usually is, it is fairly white. But can also have varying levels of translucency which display the underlying dentin.

Dentin is much softer and contains both organic and inorganic materials. It is typically yellowish in color, but can vary from brown to grey also.

The Nerve contains nerve tissue and vascular tissue that provides nourishment and sensation to the teeth.


Genetics play an important roll in the color of your teeth. Skin color, gingiva color, mineral content of the enamel, and color of the dentin. Medications have been known to alter the color of the dentin, specifically Tetrycycline used during development of the adult teeth will turn the dentin various shades of grey and brown, which darken the teeth. Illness has also shown to alter the appearance the dentin. Both medication and illness usually affect the color during the development of the teeth.


As teeth age they tend to turn yellow. Years of wear and tear can cause the enamel to turn more translucent and the dentin to darken. Kids teeth can often appear yellow in color, typically baby teeth only have 1mm of enamel covering the dentin. If for some reason a portion of the enamel has eroded away as we discussed in Acid Erosion in Children’s Teeth, the enamel will then be thinner and will display more of the yellow dentin.


There are a few other reasons that teeth will darken and those include vitality of the nerve, some teeth will turn dark when the nerve dies. Another reason is a old restorations silver-mercury fillings will turn teeth black and composite restorations tend to yellow over time.



The image above shows a few teeth of various colors in the same dentition. Tooth roots are made up of dentin, and will provide clues to what the color of the dentin is. You will notice that the front left tooth on the screen is darker then the front right one. This is because the dentin of the tooth is darker, probably because of loss of vitality of the nerve. If we were to cut off the enamel of both these teeth and evaluate it, we would notice that it is the same color. The color difference shown here is because of the dentin color change. The surface stains shown on the lower teeth can easily be removed during a hygiene visit.


The primary roll of vital tooth bleaching is to whiten the dentin, there is evidence that the current peroxide based whitening agents will whiten the dentin. 2-4 weeks is usually sufficient for most people but some teeth like the dark tooth shown above may require months of whitening. At home whitening systems provided by your dentist, provide the best results while providing the ability to control the results. In-Office whitening systems are also effective, but often require multiple visits over a period of 3-6 weeks and provide no superior results over the at home systems. Over the counter systems are effective just less effective then the other systems.

Keep your questions coming, on twitter use @sandquistdds and we’ll try to answer them. 

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Filed Under: Cosmetic Dentistry Dental Health

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