As the saying goes, “one white covers all ugliness”, although it mainly refers to the white skin, it seems that this sentence also holds for teeth. Many stars show white and neat teeth when they smile, which is especially beautiful.
At the same time, there are also some [secret recipes] circulating among the people that can whiten teeth. Let’s see if these methods really work or are just erroneous.
Containing vinegar or lemon juice
It doesn’t work, it’s harmful!
Perhaps someone was inspired by [white vinegar can remove scale] and felt that white vinegar is acidic and can dissolve scale, so it should be able to remove [tartar]. Anyway, the composition is similar.
Indeed, very sour vinegar or lemon juice can remove tartar. However, this is a method of [killing 100 enemies and damaging 1,000 oneself]!
The enamel layer, the outermost layer of teeth, is the hardest structure of the human body. It is characterized by pressure resistance and wear resistance, but it is the least acid resistant. Long-term immersion in vinegar will cause serious injuries to teeth, and these injuries are irreversible.
In many vinegar-making or chemical acid-making plants, workers’ teeth will slowly turn yellow and black due to acid mist erosion, and their texture will also become very poor.
Vinegar or lemon juice will not only not whiten teeth, but also cause great damage to teeth.
Rub your teeth with crushed peanuts, salt, orange peel powder, etc.
It’s useless, it will hurt innocent people!
The purpose of these methods is to increase friction and hope to remove pigment from the tooth surface. But in fact, the combination of pigment and tooth surface is very close, and these materials are difficult to remove pigment.
On the contrary, incorrect pressure application will hurt gums and may lead to oral ulcers.
Tooth cleaning and polishing
This is good for tooth health, but the whitening effect is average.
The main purpose of tooth washing is to remove stains deposited on teeth, just like bathing teeth, which will indeed whiten teeth. Moreover, after washing teeth, regular polishing is required. Very fine polishing particles are used to polish the tooth surface to further remove finer stains. As a result, the tooth surface will become smoother, thus becoming shiny and brighter.
Although tooth washing is very important to maintain the health of teeth and gums, its effect on tooth whitening is relatively small. We recommend washing teeth once every six months to once a year, but we cannot expect to whiten teeth by washing teeth.
Whitening toothpaste
A fleeting whitening effect.
Many toothpastes claim to [brighten the color of teeth in two months]. A closer look at the composition list of toothpastes shows that there are indeed ingredients that can play a bleaching role and polishing particles. It seems that they can whiten and polish.
However, in fact, the bleach needs to reach a certain concentration and time to play its role. When brushing teeth, the concentration of bleach is diluted very low and has basically no bleaching effect. However, the short contact between polishing particles and the tooth surface cannot exert the polishing effect.
So is whitening toothpaste effective?
You might as well recall, is the vast majority of whitening toothpaste blue, and there are many small particles in it?
Just like the principle of girls’ makeup, yellow skin needs purple concealer to brighten it. Green concealer can cover up red blood streaks. Blue colored particles in toothpaste can also stay on teeth for a short time, slightly improving the original color of teeth and making teeth appear brighter and whiter.
The use of whitening toothpaste can indeed have a short whitening effect, but the effect is not lasting. After stopping using it, the so-called “bright white” will gradually disappear.
Whitening tooth patch
It is a little reliable, but the maintenance time is short.
The above methods seem to be erroneous or just a spent force, so is there a slightly more reliable whitening method?
Whitening tooth patch is one of them.
The whitening tooth patch contains low concentration of peroxide. As long as the tooth patch can be contacted with teeth for enough time during use, the extremely superficial pigment on the tooth surface can be removed through bleaching, such as caused by drinking coffee and red wine.
However, whitening tooth patches have no effect on deeper pigments that have entered the teeth. To further improve the color of teeth, a higher concentration of bleach is needed, which requires the participation of dentists, which is referred to below as “cold light whitening”.
Cold light whitening
It’s reliable.
In cold light whitening, it is not [cold light] that really plays a whitening role, but bleaching agent. Through chemical reaction, the deeper pigment of teeth can be removed, and because there is no damage to the structure of teeth, it can be regarded as the best non-invasive way for whitening effect.
At the same time, the cost is relatively low. Natural teeth are yellow, acquired pigmentation, mild dental fluorosis and so on can be used. Generally speaking, the effect of tooth bleaching can last for about 2 years. If you feel the color of your teeth is restored again, you can bleach again.
Due to the relatively high concentration of bleach used in tooth bleaching, it is necessary to ensure the safety of other parts of the mouth during the use of bleach.
Cold light whitening requires a qualified dentist to operate, otherwise it will lead to oral ulcer, gingival recession and other problems.
Porcelain veneer, all-ceramic crown, porcelain crown
It’s reliable.
If the color of the teeth is darker, such as tetracycline teeth and moderate to severe dental fluorosis, which cannot be improved by non-invasive methods such as tooth bleaching, then minimally invasive porcelain veneer can be selected. The porcelain veneer is a bit like a [beautiful pupil] lens, which is pasted on the teeth through a thin layer to improve the color of the teeth and achieve a very natural effect.
When making porcelain veneer, it may be necessary to grind off a small amount of teeth, about 0.3 ~ 0.8 mm. The porcelain veneer technology is very mature, which can ensure that the porcelain has sufficient strength and the adhesion to the tooth surface is very firm.
Porcelain veneer can choose color, as white as you want. The whitest color is called [Hollywood White]. Just like a star, when smiling, your lips are red and your teeth are white. However, it is unnatural and fake to consider that yellow people’s teeth are too white. Therefore, you need to communicate well with doctors.
If the tooth color is too dark or there is a large defect, full crown repair should be considered.
According to the different materials, it can be divided into all-ceramic crown and porcelain crown.
All-ceramic crowns do not contain metal and can completely simulate the permeability of teeth, while porcelain crowns have metal structures inside and their colors are relatively less transparent.
In addition, making a full crown requires a larger amount of tooth abrasion, and the choice of full crown restoration should also be more cautious.
Of course, there are still many reliable and unreliable methods of whitening teeth, and new technologies are constantly emerging. It is really a bit difficult to distinguish whether various methods are reliable or not entirely by oneself. If you are not careful, you may be brutally attacked by black hands, causing damage to teeth, and it is even more difficult to recover.
Therefore, it is the most reassuring choice to find a reliable dentist and listen to the doctor’s advice.