Dental News

Tips for a Whiter Smile

December 2, 2013

Follow these tips from your Whittier CA dentist to get a whiter, brighter smile

Are yellowed teeth making you feel old? Are stains making you feel embarrassed to smile in public? You don’t have to accept these feelings. It is possible to brighten your teeth significantly using various teeth whitening techniques. The trick is to remember that there is no magic formula for instant and permanent teeth whitening. Keeping your teeth bright is an ongoing project requiring daily commitment and care for the best results. You can use these tips for a whiter smile to guide you in your quest to keep your teeth looking their best.

Get Professional Whitening

If you are serious about improving the color of your teeth, you absolutely have to visit the dentist in Whittier CA for professional teeth whitening. Your dentist can use stronger whitening agents than you can get on your own so you will see more dramatic results. For maximum effectiveness, it’s recommended that you get a dental cleaning to remove surface stains immediately before your whitening session.

Use Whitening Toothpaste

Using a whitening toothpaste at home will help maintain the effects of your professional teeth whitening treatment. Whitening toothpastes help polish away surface stains. It will be even more effective if you also use an electric toothbrush, which is better at fighting plaque, gingivitis, and stains than manual brushing.

Avoid Staining Agents

Reducing your consumption of foods and beverages that cause staining will help keep your teeth whiter longer. Coffee, tea, red wine, and dark sodas are the major dangers, but you should also watch out for foods like blueberries. Smoking is also a major cause of yellow teeth and should be reduced or avoided altogether to help preserve the effects of a whitening treatment.

Rinse Your Mouth

If you must indulge in coffee or a cigarette and can’t brush your teeth immediately afterwards, at least rinse your mouth out with water. Rinsing with water after eating any type of food is a good idea. It not only helps prevent stains from adhering to teeth, it also helps reduce the risk of tooth decay by depriving bacteria of food and changing the pH of your mouth.

Consider Veneers

If you have severe staining on one or more of your teeth, you may not see the dramatic whitening results you want, even after following all of the above steps. In this case, you should consider getting veneers. An expert cosmetic dentist in Whittier CA can help you get the right size, shape, and color of veneers that will look totally natural and then bond them to your teeth to cover stains. Veneers are also effective in covering up gray or dead teeth which never respond to whitening treatments.

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