Methods for Teeth Whitening at Home

The internet is packed with misleading health information and teeth whitening methods aren’t the exception. Since teeth staining occurs naturally, getting dental stains or worse, permanent yellowish teeth could happen to anybody. Take a few minutes to check how you can try teeth whitening at home.

Knowing this could save you money without damaging your teeth. So let’s go ahead and examine why teeth get stained in the first place.

Why Do Teeth Turn Yellow?

You’ve probably noticed that baby teeth’ most notorious trait is their pearly white shade. And that the newly erupted adult teeth aren’t as bright.

The most important thing to understand here is that teeth have three layers. All three combined give its overall shade because they’re translucent more or less.

Enamel is the layer at the surface-level of the tooth. And tooth discoloration is really notorious as soon as it starts to thin out because what’s underneath is browner to yellowish in color.

Different factors can affect the two outer layers of each tooth.

• Food and drinks. They mostly affect the enamel, giving it stains. There are a couple of drinks to look out for: coffee, wine, and other highly pigmented substances found in food.
• Age. The undersurface of teeth has a yellow hue. As we age, the enamel wears away, resulting in yellowing of teeth. This is completely normal.

And other factors like poor diet, teeth grinding and trauma, since they all cause accelerated aging.

To Bleach Or Not To Bleach

Well, that mostly depends on whether or not you are an ideal candidate for teeth whitening.

Got gum disease or cavities?

Every dentist is going to tell you that you need to get treated first. Whitening solutions can get into any existing decay, causing sensitivity.

Sensitive teeth.

If you already have sensitive teeth is best to consult with your dentist first.

Age.

Anyone under 16 shouldn’t bleach their teeth. Just consider that teeth are still changing at that age. Getting a whitening treatment could irritate teeth and turn them sensitive.

Any previous dental restorations.

Seriously, don’t try any whitening methods if you have fillings, crowns, veneers or any other type of restorations. The thing is that whitening products don’t have any effect on them. What’s worse, they will result in uneven whitening.

Great Ways To Prevent Teeth Stains

Prevention is always better, and cheaper! Here are a few tips to avoid getting your teeth stained.

• Drinking water after every meal, especially after drinking coffee or tea, helps to remove some of the staining agents of the surface of the teeth.
• But even more important than that, is to avoid what stains your teeth in the first place. We are talking about wine, coffee, tea or foods with strong dyes.
• Since trauma and teeth grinding are known to accelerate teeth aging, you could try to wear a mouthguard during sports. It also helps to get a special guard for bruxism, that’s our fancy word for teeth grinding.

Teeth Whitening at Home vs In-office Whitening

The most effective way to get closer to your ideal white hue is with an in-office teeth whitening. It’s not just about the results. The whole experience is different from every over-the-counter whitening kit.

We can think of at least three reasons for that:

Powerful: In-office whitening is more powerful than over-the-counter solutions.

Better results: They can give you better results in a shorter amount of time.

Safe: It’s actually unsafe to try a whitening method if your teeth or gums are unhealthy. Do you know how healthy gums look like? Are you able to tell if you have any cavities? Only professional dentists can tell for sure!