Question:
Recently I went to my teeth cleaner and he polished my teeth up
significantly. But I drink expressos and within a day or two my teeth
were dingy again. I've tried the teeth whitening strips and they don't
really work for me.
My intuition is that a combination of the right teeth whitening
toothpaste along with using an electric brush like a Sonicare might
give me that "just out of the dentist's office" white teeth look.
Answer:
Do you smoke? When I stopped smoking I stopped getting that brown crud next
to the gums.
You've been bamboozled by the advertising industry. Look at the special
effects in modern movies. Do you really believe that giving people whiter
teeth is beyond the capabilities of video/still editors?
First, stop worrying about it. Unless somebody has dark brown snaggle teeth,
I don't notice their teeth at all. I don't think anybody else does either
except the people who are casting for toothpaste commercials.
Second, resign yourself to standing appointments with a cosmetic dentist, or
spend your hard-earned money on caps, which aren't as strong as real teeth, or
whatever the "veneering" process is called. After all, there's no need to
save for your retirement, Social Security will always be there to take care of
you.
Third, some people just have yellowish teeth. If you keep grinding them down
you will eventually have nothing but nubs. Ugly, but also painful.
use H2O2 on toothbrush and baking soda a couple of times a week-- supposed
to help whiten.. I believe the H2O2 is the active ingredient in tooth
whitening in the expensive treatments-- someone correct me on this if this
is wrong......
I have been becoming a germaphobe with my toothbrush and pouring hydrogen
peroxide on it b4 brushing anyway for disinfections purposes ( have you ever
seen the infomercial for the toothbrush steam machine where they discuss
fecal matter spraying all over bathroom after one flushes toilet with lid
up?? Ugh..)-- H2O2 on the toothbrush seems to pep up my brushing session. At
$.50 a bottle it is frugal.
Coffee used to dingy up my teeth pretty quick until I stopped using creamer.
Have no idea why, but there it is . . .
I heard somewhere that the stuff they use to whiten your teeth with will
soften your teeth. Dunno if that's true or not, but, again, there it is .
. .
I've known some folks who had their teeth whitened to super-bright white,
and it was obvious that something was very strange. If you do have it
done, I hope you know when to stop . . .
The old method of whitening teeth was (no joke) swishing urine around
in the mouth. Supposedly, the ammonia in the urine was the active
ingredient. We know about this because some Italian diplomat wrote a
missive to a Spanish diplomat with white teeth "Don't you know that
the whiter your teeth are, the more we are reminded that you use pee
to get them that way?"
I just read/saw some stuff on teeth whitening. The hydrogen peroxide
rinses can make teeth more sensitive. Using strips can be more
expensive than having a dentist do a professional whitening treatment.
Teeth are supposed to be ivory colored anyway. Don't sweat the small
stuff unless you use your teeth for a living.
I do use a sonicare-like brush and I tried teeth whitening toothpaste,
but neither one worked as well as the white strips. My dentist
recommended them to me because I am not a good candidate for in-office
whitening or the overnight bleach kits since I have very sensitive
gums. My dentist said that the white strips were not only cheaper, but
worked more gently and in her opinion, gave better results.
Are some teeth worst than the others? I have one tooth that has a dead
root. This one bugged me because although the white strips worked
wonders, it was still noticeably dingier than the others. Turns out
that's because it's dingy on the inside. My dentist drilled a hole in
it and bleached it from the inside out, to very satisfying effect.
Another trick my dentist taught me is to use a tongue scraper on a
daily basis. According to her, if you've got a tongue coated with gunk
from smoking, coffee, and red wine (the worst!), then your teeth sit in
that gunk all day no matter how thoroughly you brush them. You can try
brushing your tongue with a tooth brush, but I find an inexpensve
plastic tongue scraper works far better, especially on the dreaded red
wine tongue. Also, if your tongue isn't pink it could also mean you're
dehydrated, so start drinking more water and less coffee.
I agree with the other posters that you can go too far with whitening
and end up looking unnatural. With that said, whitening up the teeth a
little is a sure-fire way to take years off your appearance. Also, if
you're a woman who likes to wear red lipstick, it looks better against
white not yellow teeth. I used the white strips about three years ago
and people kept coming up to me saying, "Did you do something
different? New haircut? Hmmm... can't tell what it is but you look
great." I've been able to maintain the shade with occasional use of the
strips (about once a month or every other month) since that first time.
