Whiten and brighten your teeth naturally and inexpensively with these easy techniques.
While it’s natural for teeth to darken with age, it’s also natural to want to fight that, which has lead to the variety of teeth whitening products on the market today. Those products can be expensive, however, and many use harsh chemicals. If you feel hesitant to put something so artificial into your mouth, you’ll be interested in these natural methods of teeth whitening.
All teeth whitening methods are split between two categories: there are those products that use mild abrasives to polish away the stains, while others use mild bleaches to remove the stains.
Bleaching techniques
An easy and delicious way to bleach your teeth is with strawberries. Simply crush a berry or two and rub or brush the pulp onto your teeth. If you use your brush to apply the berry pulp be careful to avoid hurting your gums with the seeds. Let sit for a few minutes, then rinse and brush your teeth as usual.
Hydrogen peroxide is another way to whiten your teeth. Chemically similar to water (hydrogen has extra oxygen atom,) peroxide is a oxygen bleach that is a popular disinfectant and tooth cleaner. You can buy it in the pharmacy section of your local grocery store. To use, simply swish an ounce or two around your mouth and between your teeth. Then, as with the strawberries, rinse and brush.
Polishing Agents
Like sanding a piece of wood will remove dirt and imperfections, using mildly abrasive substances on your teeth will remove stains. How much you can lighten your teeth depends on how deep the stain goes. You need to be very cautious with this technique, however, as you can seriously damage your teeth if you use a substance that is too abrasive.
One great way to polish your teeth involves eating plenty of crunchy fresh vegetables. The mild abrasion provided won’t damage your teeth but will produce a noticeable lightening after a few weeks. As a bonus, the rest of your body will benefit, too.
Salt is an abrasive that some people like to use for tooth whitening, but you should avoid this if you have any health conditions that would keep you from eating salt. If you have no prohibitions against trying this method, bear in mind that salt can be very abrasive. Use it lightly and for short periods only.
A better abrasive method than salt is baking soda, an old standby for clean teeth. To double the effectiveness of the baking soda, mix it with hydrogen peroxide to make a paste. Use this as you would any toothpaste. Be warned, however, that this isn’t the best tasting concoction. You might want to add some flavoring to make it more tolerable.
Smile Maintenance
You should begin to see results after a couple of weeks using these techniques. Be realistic, though, about your goals. Using these natural methods will brighten your smile a few degrees, but they won’t do miracles. If you have severe staining that doesn’t respond to bleaching or polishing, or if you want the type of brilliant white smile an actor in a movie might have, visit your dentist to discuss your options. To try to reach that degree of bleaching at home could actually harm your teeth.
Once you’ve whitened your teeth, maintain them with regular brushing. Also avoid activities and foods which can stain your teeth again. Smoking, drinking coffee, tea or red wine, and eating curry or soy sauce can all stain your teeth. If you consume any of those substances, brush your teeth as soon after as you can to minimize any possible darkening of your tooth enamel.
Source: Newsfix
No comments:
Post a Comment