13 Tips for Whiter Teeth

With everybody looking for a Hollywood smile looking after your teeth has become a top priority. However, there's more to keeping your pearly whites precisely that than a bit of brushing and the odd visit to a dentist.

Take a look at these dental dos and don'ts to get a dazzling smile.

13 Tips for Whiter Teeth

Avoid foods which can stain your teeth - Certain culprits to blame for gloomy looking teeth include black tea, coffee, red wine, tomato sauce, colas, gravies, and dark juices.

Clean your tongue - Use a tongue scraper every morning to remove tongue plaque and freshen your breath. One major cause of bad breath is the build-up of bacteria on the tongue, which a daily tongue scraping will help banish. Plus, using a tongue scraper is more effective than brushing your tongue with a toothbrush.

Brush with a Strawberry - Mash a strawberry and rub it on your teeth using your finger. Let it stand for one to two minutes. Then brush off as normal. Strawberries contain malic acid which acts as a whitening agent by dissolving surface stains

Eat ‘cleaning’ foods - Foods that are firm or crisp help clean teeth as they're eaten. These include apples, raw carrots, celery, and popcorn. For best results, make these foods the final food you eat in your meal if you know you won't be able to brush your teeth right after eating.

Avoid fizzy drinks -All fizzy drinks tend to make our teeth look dull. The acidic contents of such drinks dissolve the outer layers of our teeth. These beverages also have a high content of phosphorus that could leach calcium from our bones should we drink too much of these.

Gargle with apple cider vinegar – Do this every morning and then brush as usual. The vinegar helps help remove stains, whiten teeth, and kill bacteria in your mouth and gums.

Brush your teeth with baking soda – Do this once a week to remove stains and whiten your teeth. Use it just as you would toothpaste. You can also use salt as an alternative toothpaste.

Brush at the right times - Brush your teeth when you first get out of bed and before you get back in at night. They're the two most crucial times as saliva (which keeps cavity-causing plaque off teeth) dries up at night, so it’s best to have all plaque cleaned off the teeth before sleep. It’s also important to brush first thing in the morning to brush off plaque and bacteria that may have built up as you slept.

Get a ‘Dentist Clean’- The classical scaling to the dentist can help to remove some surface stains caused by tea or coffee.

Stop Smoking – When you smoke, the brown spots caused by nicotine stain and penetrate the enamel to cause a permanent brown effect, quitting prevents this from worsening.

Chew your food well - This is a basic tip but it does significant good to your teeth and gums.

Use Chewing Gum –This has proven to be very effective in reducing yellow stains on your teeth. Make sure that you use a sugar free and xylitol based gum

Try Banana or Parsley - Take a Banana peel and use it as a brush over your teeth or chew parsley leaves to cleanse your teeth and get a sparkling white look. Both have been found to remove stains and can remove bacteria.