Whitening teeth and baking
soda
A 23-year-old lady teacher from Atlanta
drinks lots of tea and coffee, and her teeth are now stained.
She read somewhere that whitening teeth can be achieved with
baking soda, meaning it can reduce the stains on her teeth.
Before trying it out, she was curious whether whitening teeth
with baking soda could have an adverse effect, especially on
the enamel and gums - in respect of corroding the enamel and
making the teeth more sensitive.
Well, the fact is that some
beverages and food stuff are quite well known to stain teeth.
Accusing fingers often point at tea and coffee as staining
agents. The level of staining is related to the frequency and
duration which the teeth have been exposed to staining
agents.
Whitening teeth is a growing phenomenon
globally in tandem with increasing awareness of dental health,
and, in the job market, having whiter teeth seems to improve
one's marketability! Many firms have toiled diligently in
recent years to develop the ultimate materials and technology
which had made tooth whitening possible.
Among the chemicals now commonly used for
whitening teeth is the superoxol/heat/light bleaching system.
The other one is carbamide peroxide home whitening
treatment.
Let's get back to the question about baking
soda. Well, it has been tested as a teeth whitener and, in
fact, some toothpaste sold in the supermarkets also use them.
Baking soda is believed to work because of its abrasive and
effervescent effect.
However, it has been found that its abrasion
is very minimal, meaning its negative effect on teeth and gum
should be minimal. As for sensitivity to teeth if one uses
baking soda for whitening teeth, the fact is that so far there
has been no reported cases of such
occurences.
For whitening teeth purposes, a good way to
reduce stains from tea and coffee is to rinse and brush your
teeth each time you drank them. Admittedly, rinsing should not
be a problem but brushing may not be possible most of the
time.
Now, you may be wondering - what if the
stains on my teeth are severe? In that case, try to use a
toothpaste with quite a high index of abrasion, but use it only
occasionally. If that whitening teeth advice does not work, I
suppose the only alternative left is to visit the dentist
regularly for scaling and polishing which may
help.
More info on this site -
tooth whitening system
|