The Truth Behind Whiter Teeth

The Truth Behind Whiter Teeth
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Darren_St_Romain] Darren St Romain

There are many options to whitening your teeth. Teeth naturally darken with age and due to the accumulation of surface stains their appearance can be altered. Smoking and drinking large amounts of coffee or tea can be a main factor in this alteration.

Drinking more water is the easiest way to help save your teeth from bacteria, especially during a busy day. Drinking water after a sugary drink or food item can reduce the particles that coat your teeth and water also encourages the production of saliva, which is the body's natural defense against bacteria and plaque.

It is important to have a diligent oral hygiene routine if you are concerned with keeping your teeth bright and healthy. Try and brush after every meal, floss, use mouthwash, and again, drink lots of water.

Although many people opt to whiten their teeth at the dentist, there are a number of natural remedies to whitening your teeth. There are whitening tools already in your home and if not you might want to add them to your grocery list, save the money and time from visiting a dentist and whiten your teeth at home, the natural way.

Strawberries contain an enzyme that will whiten your teeth. You can either take the fruit and directly rub on your teeth or you can mash up the strawberry and apply with a toothbrush like a toothpaste. Kiwis holds more than 100% of the suggested daily dose of vitamin C. Among other things, vitamin C helps stop your gums from breaking down. Remember to brush your teeth with actual toothpaste after application to remove the sugar and any food particles left behind from this treatment. Milk, yogurt, and cheese are high in calcium and contain phosphate. These two things help strengthen tooth enamel and neutralize the pH of your mouth, protecting it from bacteria that thrive in an acidic environment. Green tea contains an antioxidant called "catechin" which not only eliminate bad breath, but also kill bacteria that turns sugar into plaque. Another benefit to drinking green tea is that it helps prevent periodontal disease. Crunchy Fruits and Veggies like celery, apples, carrots, and broccoli all are abrasive and so they naturally scrub stains off the teeth, eating something crunchy like carrots or celery particularly after eating a meal will clean the teeth by producing saliva and removing plaque. Chewing on sunflower, pumpkin, or sesame seeds helps protect teeth from bacteria because they are high in natural fats and reinforce enamel.

You can create a mixture of about 1 tsp of baking soda and just a sprinkling of salt and apply to your teeth with a toothbrush. Another bonus of this baking soda remedy is that it kills plaque-causing bacteria and reduces harmful acids in your mouth. Orange peels contain an acid that naturally whitens teeth, take the white side of an orange peel and rub against your teeth, then brush your teeth after.

Keep in mind that all these teeth whitening remedies should be used in moderation, because as with any excessive treatment, they have the potential to harm your teeth with overuse.

All toothpastes remove surface stains through the action of mild abrasives. Whitening toothpastes contain special chemicals or polishing agents that have additional surface-stain removing properties, but don't alter the intrinsic colour of the teeth. If you opt to use more expensive remedies common teeth whitening options are identified and outlined below.

At home whitening is usually done by applying a bleaching solution to a custom-formed mouthguard that is left in the mouth for a specified time. Some products are intended for twice-daily use for up to two weeks. Others are intended for overnight use for one to two weeks. Home whitening systems like Crest Whitestrips require that you wear strips for a certain amount of time each day. They are generally gentler and certainly less expensive than having your teeth whitened in a dental office.

The in-office whitening procedure usually takes 30 to 90 minutes, and one to three visits to the dental office. A protective gel, shield or rubber dam is used to protect your gums from the bleaching agent which is usually a form of hydrogen peroxide. A bleaching agent is then applied onto your teeth and heated or high-intensity lights are used to enhance the whitening process.

Further Reading:
Health Canada website - The Safe Use of Home Tooth Whitening Kits:
rel=nofollow http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/iyh-vsv/life-vie/teeth-dents_e.html

Darren St Romain is a search marketing consultant from Toronto, Ontario. With ten years in the New Media Industry, he has had the pleasure of working with such organizations as LifeCapture Interactive, Nurun: A Quebecor Company, March of Dimes and OnCorp Direct. Since 2006 Darren has been focusing on search marketing and social media optimization. For more articles about business start ups, healthcare, dental and legal industries, see http://blog.oncorp.com

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