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Teeth Whitening Home Remedies

Jul 13, 2005
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There are said to be many "home remedies" for teeth whitening. In this article we explain each teeth whitening home remedy and its effect on teeth. Some may help, but most home remedies will damage your teeth.

Whitening Teeth with Lemon Juice


Procedure: Brushing teeth with lemon juice

Lemon juice is an acid and can harm your teeth. You may end up with a LOT of cavities and irreparably damaged tooth enamel. The reason that lemon juice "works" is that it causes the teeth to lose calcium (which gives teeth some of their off-white color). Calcium is a major component of healthy teeth, and once it is lost, your teeth become very susceptible to decay. DO NOT use lemon juice for whitening.

Whitening Teeth with Wood Ash


Procedure: Brushing teeth using wood ash (i.e. from your fireplace)

The reason wood ash whitens your teeth is because it contains potassium hydroxide (aka lye). However, only hard wood ash contains significant concentrations of potassium hydroxide. Soft wood ash does not. Before lye was available commercially, soap was made by leeching the potassium hydroxide from hard wood ash and then combining it with tallow (rendered animal fat). You may want to exercise caution when using hard wood ash too often as a tooth whitening agent. The harshness of the potassium hydroxide could significantly damage your teeth over time.

Whitening Teeth with Strawberries


Procedure: Brushing teeth using mashed strawberries

It is not advisable to brush your teeth with strawberries. The sugar and acid in the strawberry will harm your teeth more than it will help if you don't immediately brush your teeth with regular toothpaste. If you choose to brush with strawberries, be sure to brush your teeth immediately afterwards with fluoride toothpaste, and also to floss.

Whitening Teeth with Baking Soda


Procedure: Using Baking Soda with toothpaste while brushing

Baking Soda won't bleach your teeth, but it will help get plaque off and make them shine. Be warned that Baking Soda is an abrasive and if you use it too much, the enamel on your teeth can get damaged.


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Comments

1. - Jeanne - 12/26/2006
Wow! Thanks for the information about the lemon juice. I recall that my grandmother had recommended it -- good thing I checked before I tried it!
2. - steven - 08/29/2007
is hydrogen peroxide something i could use?
3. - Joshua - 09/21/2007
ok these things have side effects so what really do work?
4. - lilian - 11/27/2007
If you eat an acid fuit such as strawberry or any other healthy but acidic food such as yogurt, I would advise that you wait at least 20min to brush your teeth since the acid softens the enamel and you would be brushing some enamel away if you brush immediately. After 20 min the saliva would have "buffered" the acid on the teeth and would be Ok to brush and floss.
Also in-office bleaching products that are chemically activated only (not light activated) would lighthen most people teeth also, but usually the light activated ones would make your teeth 2 shades lighter. If you are a realistic patient, balancing the health risks of UV light exposure and swallowing peroxide at night with the home-bleaching products, a chemically activated bleaching gel is a good option. The dentist suction is in your mouth all the time (so you do not swallow the gel). the disadvantages are that your teeth will be sensitive, as will all bleaching products, some people cannot tolerate this. On the other hand can cause burns to the gums, therefore the dentist will protect your gumms with a hard resin material, but leakages may accur. If this happens, you will feel it immediatelly and if the gel is removed on the act, only a very superficial burn will appear (like a white spot on the gums) which will be OK in about a week time. This is not very significant compared with the continuous gum irritation caused by the home-bleaching products.
Cheers
5. - lupita - 01/17/2008
hey..

WELL I JUST WANNA TO SAY THANKS FOR THE INFO..

BUT I NEED SOMEONE TO TELL ME IF THS REALLY WORK..

6. - Bruce - 01/26/2008
What exactly is "a shade" or "2 shades"??
7. - lola - 04/16/2008
There's no remedies for strawberries! Well, strawberries works well too! Anyways, mash it up and brush your teeth with it! BUT MAKE SURE YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH AFTERWARDS!
8. - Silvina - 04/25/2008
The hydrogen peroxide works and it's easy to do but it takes awhile to see any results. This home remedy needs to be done on a somewhat regular basis; but like the post says, if you do it too much then you can wear away your enamel.

I don't know much about the other remedies, but I have heard that the strawberry one works too.
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