When it comes to whitening your teeth, there are a million and one different options out there. It can feel a little overwhelming figuring out the one that’s best for you. After all, your smile is an extremely important part of your confidence and self-image, so finding the best way to keep it bright and shiny is important too! Whiter teeth can open many doors for you if you can find the best way to make it happen.
People with bright white smiles are seen as more professional, more attractive, and more confident, so it can be a huge boost to both your personal and professional lives to whiten your teeth.
Take your time, review the options, and then seize the opportunity to take the first step on whiten your teeth at home journey. If you’re ready to get a step closer to the person you’ve always wanted to be, then whitening your teeth is a great way to get you there.
Most of the mainstream, medically approved teeth whitening products you can find on the shelves of your local grocery or drug store are going to be peroxide-based.
That means they use small concentrations of hydrogen peroxide to bleach away the stains on your teeth, leaving them dazzlingly white. These products are considered to be perfectly safe and have been studied pretty relentlessly to make sure. However, there’s always the risk of side effects, especially if you have thin or previously damaged enamel.
If you have sensitive teeth, you might be a little nervous about using chemicals like peroxide on them. That’s totally fine! You can always start with a natural remedy that’s less likely to cause pain or damage to your enamel.
More and more people choose alternative cures to treat their skin, hair, and teeth, and there’s no harm in giving those cures a try. However, it’s still a good idea to do a little research into whether or not natural remedies work and if they’re likely to harm your teeth.
As with any medical issue, you shouldn’t just believe whatever you read on the internet! Get in touch with your dentist before you make any big decisions, and feel free to ask them any questions that you might have about whitening your teeth. After all, nobody knows more about your teeth than your dentist, and they’ll tell you if there are any factors specific to your smile that you might not have thought about.
It’s also important to keep in mind that you shouldn’t consider any of these remedies to be an alternative to basic dental hygiene. If you’re not brushing your teeth and flossing regularly, then no treatment is going to do you any good. You’ll just be throwing money away.
The American Dental Association recommends that you brush your teeth twice a day, every single day, and floss once per day to clean out the spaces in between your teeth. They also suggest that you visit your dentist about once every six months or so to have your teeth cleaned and to check for any potential issues you may not notice on your own.
Whitening Your Teeth With Salt
When it comes to alternative forms of teeth whitening, salt is one of the ingredients that has been mentioned more and more in recent years. Lots of popular toothpaste brands have been launching new salt-infused tubes of toothpaste, and some people recommend brushing with salt or swishing salt water around in your mouth. This is part of a new wave of toothpaste with natural ingredients included in the formula, like baking soda, activated charcoal, and coconut oil.
Of course, the real question is: does it work? Salt is one of the oldest natural cures for teeth whitening. Ancient people used to wash their mouths out with saltwater. Salt has abrasive qualities, so the idea is that it will work to scrub the stains and plaque off your teeth.
However, some other people argue that salt is actually bad for your teeth, as well as your diet. If you’re not sure who to believe, we’re here to help! In this article, we’ll explore the science behind using salt to clean your teeth and give you an idea of whether or not it’s effective.
Washing Your Mouth With Salt Water
Rinsing out your mouth with saltwater has been a remedy for whiter teeth for centuries, and plenty of people still recommend it today. Saltwater is actually a natural disinfectant, and salt mouthwash is sometimes given to people who are recovering from oral surgeries for this reason. It also works to soothe inflammation in your mouth.
The salt draws the moisture out of the inflamed areas, which reduces the pain while also getting rid of harmful bacteria that can damage your teeth. Salt also fights bacteria by changing the pH balance in your mouth, making it harder for them to survive in your saliva.
All of this is why salt was so commonly used by our ancestors to wash out their mouths. However, that doesn’t necessarily make brushing your teeth with salt a good idea.
Brushing Your Teeth With Salt
In addition to using saltwater to wash out your mouth, you can also use salt or salt-infused toothpaste to brush your teeth. This definitely has some basis in science because salt is abrasive enough to rub some of the stains off your teeth.
However, it can also cause pretty serious damage to your enamel if you’re not careful. Wearing down your enamel can actually make your teeth look even more yellow because it exposes the yellow dentin layer underneath. It also leaves your teeth open to more decay since there’s nothing between the bacteria and the soft inner layers of your teeth.
Brushing your teeth with salt is kind of the equivalent of trying to clean your floors with a belt sander. Sure, you’re going to get rid of all the dirt and stains, but you’re also going to shave off the top layer of your floor, so it’s really not worth it. This is especially true because enamel doesn’t grow back.
Once you’ve ground it away, it’s gone forever. It’s probably best to leave the salt in the kitchen and stick to other methods of whitening your teeth, ultimately.
Alternatives To Salt For Whitening Your Teeth
If you’re looking for ways to whiten your teeth without the use of chemicals like peroxide, there are a ton of options other than salt that won’t hurt the enamel on your teeth. If you check online articles like this one or flip through alternative medical magazines, you can find plenty of different choices.
You might have to try a few different ones before you find one that works, but most of them won’t cause any damage to your enamel. As always, remember to keep brushing and flossing regularly while you’re doing this!
There really is no replacement for standard dental hygiene, and trying any of these remedies without brushing your teeth with regular toothpaste is just going to be a complete waste of time and will leave you with gross yellow teeth anyway.
Instead of using salt to brush your teeth, you might try using baking soda instead. Like salt, baking soda is a mild abrasive, so it can rub the stains off your teeth.
Unlike salt, however, baking soda is much less likely to damage your enamel. Still, it’s recommended that you only brush with baking soda once or twice a week, or you could end up actually causing some damage. Baking soda isn’t just useful for stains, either. Because it’s alkaline, baking soda can actually affect the pH balance of your mouth, making it a more hostile environment for harmful bacteria.
Baking soda isn’t going to turn your teeth white overnight, but if you use it semi-regularly, you could end up seeing a gradual whitening of your smile after a little while.
Try mixing about a teaspoon of baking soda with two teaspoons of water to make a paste, then put it on your toothbrush and brush your teeth. You should start to see some real results after a few weeks!
If you’d rather not use something abrasive on your teeth, why not try oil pulling? Oil pulling was invented in ancient India and is used by people all over the world. It involves taking a little bit of oil, about a tablespoon or so, and swishing it around in your mouth for a few minutes before spitting it out.
The idea is that it washes away all the harmful bacteria that cause damage to your enamel, and there have actually been a few studies that support this. It’s not going to be a huge game-changer for you, but it can be effective in keeping your mouth a little cleaner than it was before.
The ancient Indians used to use sesame or sunflower oil, but nowadays, a lot of people prefer coconut oil for its taste. Coconut oil is also a good source of lauric acid, which can reduce inflammation and kill bacteria in your mouth.
One big advantage of oil pulling is that there’s really no way to damage your teeth with it, unlike salt or baking soda. There’s really no downside to trying it, so why not give it a shot?
There are also certain foods that you can eat to keep your teeth white and healthy. Strawberries, for example, are often cited as some of the best food for your teeth. Strawberries are high in malic acid, which promotes saliva production and can help get rid of the discoloration on your teeth. In fact, many people mash up strawberries and mix them with water and baking soda for a makeshift toothpaste that they claim will clean stains off your teeth.
There’s not much by way of scientific evidence to back this up, but it can’t really hurt as long as you limit it to once or twice a week to avoid damaging your enamel. Pineapples are another fruit that can be good for your teeth. Pineapples contain bromelain, which is an active ingredient in some toothpaste.
Studies have shown that toothpaste with bromelain is extremely effective at whitening your teeth without causing any damage to your enamel. In fact, we may start to see more and more whitening products made with bromelain in the near future, as more testing is done.
However, there’s currently not much evidence to suggest that eating pineapples can create the same effect as brushing your teeth with bromelain, so take that with a grain of salt.
If you’ve tried a ton of natural cures and they’re just not working for you, it might be time to move on to more serious whitening products. Peroxide-based whitening systems like Snow are the most powerful products available for keeping your teeth shiny and white without causing damage to your enamel.
Snow works by using a peroxide gel that’s applied to your teeth with an applicator wand, just like painting a fence. The peroxide in the gel bleaches your teeth clean, cleaning off any stains or discoloration. Snow also includes a special activating LED light that makes the peroxide even more powerful and effective.
If you’ve been avoiding peroxide whitening products because you have sensitive teeth, Snow has you covered there too. Snow’s patented desensitizing serum works to protect your teeth during the whitening process while also making them less sensitive in general.
It’s a great all-around whitening system that takes all the best ideas from other methods and brings them together for the first time. If you’re looking for a more powerful way to get the smile of your dreams, it might be time to give Snow a try.
No matter which method you end up using, the important thing is that you’re taking control of your smile and starting your teeth whitening journey. If you have any questions about teeth whitening, don’t be afraid to bring it up with your dentist!
As they say, the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, but the second-best time is today, and that’s just as true when it comes to whitening your teeth.
