Shine Your Pearly Whites

If you want your pearly whites to add more definition to your smile, then brushing twice a day with regular fluoride toothpaste, isn’t just enough. With the growing years there’s bound to be discoloration and chipping of tooth, but you can get back that whiteness either using whiteners at home or getting a whitening treatment done at a dental clinic.

Now before we tell you more about how to whiten your teeth, it’s important to understand that fluorides are only needed to prevent cavities and have nothing to do with whitening your teeth. Just read through the ingredients list on the toothpaste to see whether they contain one of the two chief teeth whitening agents, that is baking soda or peroxide. Baking soda has an abrasive action which scrapes the outer layer of the teeth to remove stains, and so people who already have problem with their tooth enamel should avoid toothpastes with baking soda.

For the other option, that is peroxide based toothpastes, they have a bleaching effect and you would see the results in about two weeks to a month’s time. However, if you have the problem of sensitive teeth, then go in for toothpaste which contains low doses of peroxide. But even if your teeth are not sensitive it is always better to go slow, as peroxide being a strong chemical can always make your teeth sensitive.

What you can possibly do is that you can use bleaching toothpastes in the morning and use toothpaste which is specifically meant to treat sensitivity in the evening, this way you will go slow and will not face the problem of sensitive teeth.

In many cases, the discoloration of tooth may be because of wearing away of the natural enamel, and while it makes your teeth unsightly, the graver problem is that your teeth become weaker and more sensitive.

Although it’s common for the enamel to wear out with age, the other factors responsible for it are eating too much of acidic food, problem of acid reflux and the habit of grinding teeth.  Restoring worn out enamel is not possible using any toothpaste and calls for some dental treatment like bonding to replace the worn out layer, and that can be done only at a dental clinic.