Metal Mouth Message Board

When I had all that swelling in my mouth 3 weeks ago from having my mini-implants put in and had to have my Nance appliance removed in a hurry, my ortho gave me some chlorhexidine gel to put round the swollen areas to minimise the risk of infection. I was warned not to get it on my teeth as it can stain.

Well I thought I'd succeeded until today! I was having a good old look round my mouth with the little dental mirror to see how much my teeth had moved, and to my horror discovered that the insides of my teeth were dark brown!

I am a smoker but I've always cleaned my teeth thoroughly and they certainly weren't that colour a month ago, as before I got braced I really went to town on my teeth inside and out and made sure they were as clean as they could possibly be. I can only think that some of the gel got onto the insides of my teeth despite my best efforts, and stained them. Despite several scrubs with the Sonicare the stain would not shift and in the end I had to resort to baking soda, which has removed most but not all of it. It looked like I'd been smoking 40 cigs a day and hadn't cleaned my teeth in years!

Definitely something to be aware of if you ever get an infection and are prescribed this.

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Lisa,

Chlorhexidine stain is no different than the tar from your cigarette's or coffee or tea stains. It is simply a surface stain that can be removed with a proper scaling at your dentist. It binds to your teeth and can be difficult to remove with at home tools. But have no fear, at your next cleaning your hygienist/dentist can remove it with scalers. Also, cleaning with a mild abrasive (baking soda toothpaste, whitening toothpaste) over a few weeks will lessen the stain but will not likely remove it.

Good Luck,
Rory

Thanks Rory. I did get a lot of it off with the baking soda but I will leave the rest till I next go to the dentist for a check-up in November. I'll ask him to do me a scale and polish.