15 Tricks That Will Make Your Teeth White

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Having a bright white smile can improve self-esteem and confidence. Many teeth-whitening products use chemicals to bleach your teeth, but fortunately, there are many ways to brighten your smile safely and naturally.

The most common culprits for yellow teeth include:

• Stains – Coffee, smoking, red wine, chocolate, and poor dental hygiene can all stain the enamel on your teeth.
• Enamel wear – As your enamel wears away the yellowish dentin underneath is revealed.
• Genetics – Some people are born with tinner enamel, which can give teeth a dull or even grayish appearance.

Smile Solutions tips to whiten your smile

Here are our tips and tricks for getting whiter teeth:

1. Drink plenty of water

Brush off dark liquids such as black coffee or red wine with water. As it takes only 30 seconds for the pigment to penetrate your teeth, consider drinking water alongside your coffee or wine to wash away any stains that may appear.

2. Avoid certain food

Some food cause stains that can be even harder to remove than those from coffee. Dark and sticky food can deeply penetrate teeth, making for more intense staining. Balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, tomato sauce, cranberry sauce, chocolate syrup, and barbecue sauce are some of them. The trick to avoiding this staining is brushing your teeth immediately after meals. In cases when this is not possible, swishing your mouth with water can help keep food stains at bay until you get the chance to brush.

3. Add milk to your tea

Adding milk to your tea will reduce its ability to stain your teeth. Milk holds protein casein which binds to tannins and protects your enamel from staining. Tannins are the compounds found in tea that cause staining.

4. Snack on strawberries and cheese

Strawberries are natural teeth polishers. They produce an enzyme called malic acid which keeps teeth white. Also, cheese contains a type of lactic acid that helps prevent tooth decay.

5. Eat apples and celery

Crunchy fruits and vegetables are great for cleaning away plaque and polishing your teeth and gums. They also increase saliva productions which can protect your oral health.

6. Brush your teeth twice a day

Practicing good dental hygiene not only keeps your teeth healthy but also white. Dentists suggest using electric toothbrushes because they clean deeper and remove more surface stains.

7. Floss

It is extremely important to floss daily since plaque and food particles can pile up between your teeth making your smile look dim.

8. Brush with baking soda once a week

harrisburgdental.com advises using baking soda a few times a month. This way you can get your teeth up to two shades whiter. If you brush with baking soda once a week, it is not abrasive enough to wear down the enamel. However, brushing too often will damage your enamel.

Here is how you do it. All you need is baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Dampen your toothbrush under the faucet, squirt a bit of hydrogen peroxide over the bristles, dip the brush in the baking soda box, and brush for two minutes. After that, rinse with lukewarm water.

9. Practice oil pulling

Oil pulling is the process of swishing unrefined, cold-pressed organic coconut, sunflower, or sesame oil around in your mouth for 5 to 45 minutes to whiten your teeth and get rid of any toxins in your mouth. The oil absorbs plaque from your teeth making them brighter. You will notice the fresher breath, whiter teeth, and less blood around the gums when you floss.

10. Rinse with apple cider vinegar once a week

Rinsing with apple cider vinegar will eat away at the surface stains on your teeth. There is no need to use a lot of vinegar. You should dilute it by adding one teaspoon if the apple cider vinegar to a cup of water. Swish it around your mouth for a minute or two, spit it out, and rinse with water. Limiting your apple cider vinegar rinses to once a week will not harm your tooth enamel.

11. Avoid sugar as much as possible

A diet filled with too much sugar can lead to tooth decay, gingivitis, cavities, and plaque. There is no need to cut sugar completely out of your diet, but you need to keep an eye on how much sugar you are consuming. We suggest limiting sugar intake to 25 grams or 100 calories for women, and 37.5 grams or 150 calories for men.

12. Don’t smoke

Smoking makes your teeth yellow causing tooth decay and tooth loss along the way. Also, the exposure to nicotine can leave your mouth unable to fight off infection, causing bacteria buildup. Smoking not only stains your teeth, but also endangers the health of your entire body.

13. Visit the dentist

The quickest way to whiten your teeth is by having a dentist do that. Using professional hydrogen peroxide and special lights or lasers, your dentist can remove even deep stains in an hour.

14. Try an at-home whitening kit

At-home teeth whiteners are designed to hold a milder hydrogen peroxide solution against your teeth as closely as possible for an extended period each day. Besides custom-made trays from your dentist that fit your teeth exactly and stronger hydrogen peroxide, generic trays and stick-on strips are also a great option. They can yield the same results as professional bleaching, only over a longer period, usually around six weeks. We suggest having professional teeth cleaning before starting to use any at-home whitening kit. That way can be sure your enamel will come in contact with the bleach. If your teeth have a plaque buildup, the lightening agents will not be able to penetrate through the plaque.

15. Consider veneers

This should be considered as a last resort. If your teeth seem yellow, the peroxide in whitening treatments is the right choice. However, if they seem gray, that means that the staining is coming from within the tooth and it can only be fixed by covering them with bonding or veneers, which will necessitate grinding down your existing tooth.