Whitening Your Teeth Naturally
More advice about your pearly whites!
We’re all about big, white, happy grins here at Abbey Road Dental, and we know our patients feel exactly the same. No matter how rubbish your day is, smiling can be just the thing to make it all better.
Studies have even proved that forcing yourself to smile actually triggers a response in your brain that makes you think it’s a real smile, resulting in you feeling happy. So even if you’re not smiling on the inside, there’s always a good reason to get those pearly whites on show.
At our St John’s Wood dentist clinic we often get lots of enquiries about teeth whitening. Patients might enquire about keeping their teeth as white as possible naturally, or indeed whitening them either with one of our Abbey Road Dental teeth whitening treatments, or with various whitening products available on the market. With regular checkups and hygienist appointments we are more than happy to advise you on all aspects of maintaining the natural colour of your teeth and improving it. We’d love to see you at our NW8 practice to talk to you about it in detail, but for now, here are some easy tips:
Natural Or At-Home Remedies
The best way to approach teeth whitening first, is to practise really good oral hygiene. Maintaining your teeth’s natural colour is a great first step.
● Eat sugary and starchy food and drink in moderation
● Drink red wine, coffee and tea in moderation
● Brush your teeth thoroughly every day
● Floss every day
● Visit your dentist for regular checkups
● Avoid smoking completely
● Use toothpaste with fluoride content of at least 1,000ppm
You may have also noticed that there are lots of whitening toothpastes available in the shops, most of which promise truly phenomenal results. Generally, although these mild abrasives may remove very recent stains or plaque build up, they won’t make any difference with older stains because they’re simply not strong enough. So generally, you’re better saving your money and just buying a good quality toothpaste with a focus on maintaining healthy teeth.
You may have also seen adverts for teeth whitening treatments you can buy online, or get done in a beauty salon. Our advice? These treatments should be avoided at all costs. You should never have teeth whitening done by any person other than a registered dental professional, no matter how good the deal appears to be, it’s just not worth the risk. Indeed it’s actually illegal.
With trays you can get online, remember the company does not know your personal circumstances and the trays have not been moulded to your teeth, so the solution they send you to use, which could contain any amount of dangerous chemicals, could come into contact with other areas of the mouth. So you could end up losing money and falling victim to mouth tissue and teeth damage. Again, it’s really not worth the risk.
A truly natural teeth whitening solution is malic acid, contained naturally in strawberries. Catherine Zeta Jones swears by rubbing a strawberry on her teeth after eating, and you can mix strawberries and baking soda to make your own natural teeth whitening mix. However, we don’t recommend doing this too often as the acid in the strawberries may damage your tooth enamel. It’s always best to talk to us first!
Abbey Dental Whitening Treatments
If you have tried changing your tooth care at home and still feel like you don’t have as bright a smile as you would like, consider popping in to see us about our whitening treatments including the Smile Makeover and in-surgery and take-home whitening options. Please give us a call on 020 7624 1603 and we will be more than happy to book you in for a no obligation consultation.