It’s amazing what science has come up with in the name of beauty and vanity…
It seems like these days that every dental care company has a whitening product on the shelves…
And though a nice smile can be attractive… there’s nothing more disconcerting than a set of abnormally white teeth coming at you!
But it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that doesn’t show any sign of slowing.
There are strips you stick to your teeth…
There are mouthwashes and toothpastes that claim to do the same…
There are even gels that you literally paint you teeth with.
We have a pick of things to use to make our teeth glow with whiteness.
But there’s a new report from Reuters that says that maybe it was best to keep them a little…yellow.
According to the article…
Teeth bleaching products for home use may minimally reduce the surface hardness of tooth enamel and enamel’s ability to “bounce back” from normal wear and tear, a laboratory study suggests.
Minimally… What does that mean?
Well, in the study done at the Ohio State University College of Dentistry used the “nanometer scale” to:
…measure the hardness and elasticity of tooth enamel both before and after laboratory exposures to over-the-counter teeth bleaching solutions.
A nanometer is 1 billionth of a meter…
Seems pretty small…and seeing as the thickness of tooth enamel ranges from 1.3 to 2.0 millimeters… so no big deal right?
Well the article continues…
Compared with before bleaching and versus unbleached controls, the bleached enamel showed significant decreases in hardness on the nanometer scale, the investigators report in the Journal of Dentistry.
The researchers also observed a significant decrease in enamel elasticity in most bleached tooth samples compared with unbleached controls.
Which is doesn’t seem too alarming…
Except that this damage was done with just one cycle of the bleaching process.
One package investigated says
“If desired effects are not reached…repeat process as needed.”
Imagine if you needed 3, 4, or 5 cycles of the whitening process to get your “desired effect”…
Sure…you’d have a bright smile…but a mouthful of weak and dying teeth.
Knowing the culprits who stain your teeth is half of the battle… so to keep your teeth as white as possible…you should avoid:
- Tobacco
- Red Wine
- Teas
- Coffee
- Carbonated soft drinks
But for all you caffeine drinkers out there (like me)…cutting out tea, coffee, or soda may be more detrimental than any damage you could do to your teeth.
Don’t worry… there are other answers out there to keep your pearly whites…pearly white!
Some home remedies include…
- The Mad Scientist- Mix baking soda and hydrogen peroxide together to make a paste brushing regularly may reduce visible staining. (though I can’t vouch for the taste!)
- Orange You Glad- Rubbing the inside of an orange peel directly on the teeth is supposed to help keep your smile bright.
- Take Mom’s Advice- Then there’s the old stand by… brush regularly after every meal to greatly improve the color of your teeth!
Either way you shake it… taking care of your mouth should be an important part of your day…
Because I don’t know anyone who prefers letting their teeth rot out as opposed to keeping them in tip top shape!
So tonight…or tomorrow morning… when brushing your teeth…
When you catch your reflection in the mirror…If your smile doesn’t seem to be as white as it was…
No worries…
Because you know that a bright smile doesn’t need to come at a hefty price.
Stay Healthy!
Shawn Ambrosino
Editor
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