7 Helpful Tips for Keeping Your Teeth White
A brighter smile plays a significant role in your smile, self-confidence, and overall quality of life. Whether you’ve just had your teeth whitened or want to preserve your beautiful smile, it requires effort. Below we’ve outlined seven practical tips to maintain the sparkle and beauty of your pearly whites.
- Avoid or limit staining foods and beverages.
Highly pigmented items like coffee, cola, tea, red wine, dark chocolate, tomato sauces, and soda can transfer pigments of their colors to your teeth, darkening or staining them. Avoid or limit these food items to keep your teeth white.
When taking colored or acidic food items, use a straw to limit contact with your teeth. Brushing or rinsing your mouth after eating these items can remove leftover staining debris and help you maintain a brighter and more beautiful smile. It’s essential to wait for about 30 minutes to brush your teeth after taking acidic items like lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Similarly, drinking water between colored meals and beverages can help prevent stains.
- Avoid tobacco products.
Smoking and other tobacco products are not just bad for the color of your pearly whites but can also affect your oral and overall health. For instance, smoking can lead to oral cancer, gum disease, slower wound healing, dulled-tasting abilities, and other dental problems. Avoiding tobacco will keep your teeth white and improve oral and overall health.
- Use whitening toothpaste.
A whitening toothpaste is an excellent way to keep your teeth bright all year. It helps remove daily stains and dental plaque and provides a fresher feeling. Consult your dentist about the right toothpaste to use. Some products use abrasive chemicals that can damage your teeth if used long-term.
- Teeth whitening
Teeth whitening or bleaching is the most effective way to achieve a brighter smile. Your doctor can perform the procedure in the office, and you’ll have a brighter smile in less than one hour. The dentist can also provide whitening trays and gel to use at home.
Your new smile should last 2 – 3 years or longer with proper dental hygiene and care. While you can obtain teeth whitening products from a drug store near you, professional whitening offers the safest, quickest, guaranteed, and most effective results. We offer teeth whitening in Westwood, MA.
- Brush and floss daily.
Brushing and flossing your teeth daily is the best way to maintain a bright and healthy mouth. Brushing helps remove leftover debris, acids, and bacteria from the mouth, keeping your teeth stain-free and reducing plaque and tartar. Flossing also helps remove debris trapped deep between teeth, preventing staining in these areas.
Aggressive brushing isn’t the right way to thoroughly clean your teeth. Abrasive brushing can weaken the tooth enamel, making your teeth vulnerable to stains and damage like fractures and decay. Proper and gentle brushing techniques will help keep your teeth shiny and protect the enamel from damage.
- Visit your dentist regularly.
Besides daily brushing and flossing, seeing your dentist twice yearly for exams and cleanings helps remove plaque and tartar from your teeth, keeping them healthy and shiny. The dentist also polishes your teeth for a brighter and smoothers appearance, making it harder for stains and debris to form on the teeth. Also, ask your dentist about quality and safe dental products to keep your teeth clean and healthy.
- Eat foods that whiten your teeth.
Some foods have ingredients that can help keep your teeth healthy and bright. For instance, crunchy fruits and vegetables like apples, celery, and carrots can help remove plaque and tartar from teeth. These items also stimulate saliva stimulation, helping to wash away bacteria, acids, and debris from the mouth and keep your teeth bright. Some foods like pineapples contain bleaching effects that can help keep teeth bright.
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For more teeth whitening tips and cosmetic dentistry, contact Westwood Dental Group for more information.