Clean, white teeth translate to a healthy, glowing smile, and there are plenty of easy methods that help you maintain your pearly-white, winning smile.
The simplest, most basic rule-of-thumb: brush your teeth two to three times a day and regularly floss. This will, most importantly, keep you from acquiring cavities, periodontal gum disease and heart-related diseases. Purchase and use whitening toothpaste with baking soda and fluoride and dental floss (although monofilament floss is more expensive than your typical nylon or silk floss, it’s thicker and since it’s not fabric, won’t tear or rip). Oral rinses also help you keep your teeth clean and white. In particular, cosmetic oral rinses will help whiten your teeth through teeth whitening agents. As they also commonly include antibacterial ingredients and anti-cavity protection, cosmetic oral rinses will temporarily mask bad breath odors and halitosis. They remove additional oral debris in your mouth and refresh your mouth with a mint, clean taste. Other at-home tooth-whitening products include a range of toothpaste and strips. Tooth-whitening kits contain carbamide peroxide, which is a bleaching agent that removes surface and deep stains. You can also purchase and apply a peroxide-based gel with a small brush to the surface of your teeth. Sometimes, the gel comes in a mold that you place onto your teeth for half an hour to 45 minutes for up to a week.
Another way to keep your teeth white is to get regular dentist checkups. Doctor Saliba, a respected dentist in Newport Beach, CA says, “At a minimum, you should be visiting your dentist twice a year for cleaning checkups (once every six months)”.
If you have periodontal or gum disease, you may want to see your dentist more often. A glowing smile almost always needs extra teeth cleaning and care, and dentist checkups will get rid of any unwanted plaque buildup. While at the dentist’s office, you can request therapeutic oral rinses. These rinses aim to get rid of common gum diseases like gingivitis. In addition to having similar properties as cosmetic rinses, therapeutic oral rinses also help protect your mouth from oral diseases by attacking the bacteria so that they stop reproducing. Therapeutic rinses also hinder bacteria’s ability to stay on oral surfaces like your teeth and tongue. Dentists frequently prescribe therapeutic rinses to fight off tooth decay, dry mouth and gingival inflammation.
Lastly, avoid drinking or eating products that stain your teeth. This includes coffee, dark teas and red wine. If you do regularly consume these products, brush and rinse your teeth immediately after consumption to keep your teeth white and bright.
Selective Dentistry - George Saliba, DDS 