Will Baking Soda Whiten Your Teeth?
It's late at night and while you are waiting for your show to come back on a teeth whitening commercial pops up. As the person in the commercial looks at their smile in the bathroom mirror and is startled by their yellow teeth you probably start to feel self conscious as well. You're not going to jump up and check your teeth immediately but when you wake up the next morning the thought might be there, subtly nagging in the back of your mind.
This doesn't mean that you need to run out and buy whatever whitening product they were advertising. Having your teeth whitened at a dentist is a pretty hefty expense. Not to say that over the counter toothpastes and whitening strips aren't but they aren't accommodating to all types of teeth. For example, these products can harm those with sensitive teeth. We're well into the internet age so naturally many people hop onto all types of social media platforms to offer DIY and home remedy solutions for things, like teeth whitening. Some of these at home tutorials recommend pantry products that most households would have on hand. Baking soda is the go to ingredient for many of these DIY type tutorials. Baking soda is an abrasive substance. So fans of it are usually suggesting for anything from home made cleaning solutions to deterring bugs from your garden. From a face value perspective, yes, baking soda can whiten your teeth. While you shouldn't immediately start looking for how to mix your baking soda concoction to place on your teeth, there are some things you should consider. Baking soda cannot be used as a long term solution for whitening teeth. It can only remove surface stains on teeth. So while it might be good for just getting rid of that yellow stain coffee tends to leave behind it should be used sparingly. As stated before, baking soda is very abrasive and abrasive substances should not be used on our teeth. Abrasiveness of anything, even toothpaste, we put on our teeth should always be a top concern. It is detrimental to our tooth enamel. Our enamel isn't the type of thing to grow back so once we've damaged it there is no going back. This doesn't mean baking soda should still be considered as a round the clock whitening agent. Aside from eroding our enamel, baking soda can also irritate the gum line and gums. Toothpaste is something we use daily on our teeth and previously stated baking soda isn't something that should be used often if at all. If you're still interest in finding a decent whitening product. It's best to look for those that whiten without scratching your tooth enamel. Some whiten at-home kits gently polish your enamel and reviews have compared them to whitening procedures at the dentist.