“A day without a smile is a day lost”: Charlie Chaplin said it, one who knew a lot about smiles, even though he was not a dentist. We would all like to have the opportunity to smile without being ashamed of the state of our teeth.
To make teeth white there are two essential ways to go, in addition of course to proper oral hygiene: whitening with pharmacy products and tartar ablation, that is, the cleaning of the teeth that the dentist performs.
It must be said, however, that the color of our teeth can certainly be corrected with external interventions, but it is largely determined by mother nature. There are people who have them very white, so the tools adopted can bring them back to the original candor. Others that for genetic reasons have them a little more yellow. And in this case they will never be as shiny as they would like.
Who are the enemies of white teeth? Here they are:
- cigarette smoke
- mouthwashes based on chlorhexidine
- natural aging (with age they become more yellow)
- food pigments (coffee, tea, licorice, spinach and red wine)
- artificial colours added to beverages or other food products.
Bleaching
In every pharmacy you can find products that can lighten the color of the enamel by acting in depth.
They give positive results, although miracles should not be expected if the color of our teeth is tending to yellow for natural reasons.
Whitening can be done at home or at the dentist. The products used are the same, but have different concentrations. They are typically pastes based on hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide.
The home one is a longer one, usually carried out five or six times by applying for about half an hour a day special masks purchased ready in the pharmacy.
Whitening at the dentist is much faster: everything is resolved in a single session of about an hour. This is possible because the active ingredients are more concentrated and because at the dentist you can use special plasma, laser or halogen lamps that speed up the process.
Tartar ablation
In technical jargon it is called scaling and consists in the mechanical removal of tartar deposits on the teeth.
In practice, to remove it you use a tool that scrapes away the tartar: it can be electric or ultrasonic.
It must be performed by a dentist or dental hygienist. In addition to making teeth more beautiful, it also serves to prevent gum and periodontal diseases. For this reason, tartar ablation should be done regularly.
The frequency varies in relation to different variables, such as the arrangement of the teeth, which affects the formation of tartar, the habits that each of us has in terms of daily oral hygiene (the less you do, the more frequent the use of scaling), the state of health of the gums, the presence of predisposing factors.
Generally, if the health of the oral cavity is good, it is sufficient to perform it once a year.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
The blog covers a wide range of topics related to health and wellness, with articles organized into several categories.