Many people reject commercial products that aim to whiten the teeth, in favor of natural at home teeth whitening methods. And one of the natural alternatives most often mentioned is to use lemons, rubbing the peel across the teeth or drinking lemon juice with a bit of salt, or to mash up some strawberries and actually brush with them. Many people who advocate the use of fruits in this way often say they see noticeable tooth whitening within a few days. Yet despite their supposedly healthy qualities, these fruits still may not turn out to be the best solution.
The most effective use of fruit for dental whitening appears, at first, to be provided by lemons, whether using the juice as a mouthwash or rubbing the peel directly on the teeth. Yet what the citric acid actually does is pull calcium out of the enamel. This makes the tooth appear whiter, for a while, because calcium is one of the things that adds a darker tinge to the color. But losing calcium eventually makes the enamel thinner, weakening the teeth. As an at home teeth whitening method, lemons look promising at first, but could produce devastating effects in the end.
Are strawberries a better idea as a homemade teeth whitener? Not really. Its seeds are scratchy and can scratch and damage your teeth, plus the acid may have much the same outcome as lemons. Actually, the acid in strawberries essentially makes the enamel softer. That’s why it’s advised that people will want to wait 20 minutes subsequent to eating them before cleaning the teeth, to provide the saliva an opportunity to top off the minerals within the enamel. The use of actual strawberries to brush the teeth, particularly on a regular basis, might be not the most appropriate approach to making your teeth white.
One should remember that most tooth color comes from the yellowish dentin inside, beneath the translucent enamel. So using an at home teeth whitening method that in fact erodes the enamel, and gradually reveals more of the dentin, means that rather than ending up with white teeth, they could produce teeth that are ultimately more yellow than before.
In fact, with most of your teeth’s coloring being determined by the dentin, it may not actually be possible to whiten teeth much more than they were to start with. The more important task is to keep the teeth healthy, and a continual treatment of either lemons or strawberries is unlikely to accomplish that objective.
The popularity of teeth whitening products and procedures has grown enormously in the last little while. Lots of people are becoming aware that a white smile is a great way to look more attractive, not to mention younger. Find out what your choices are in an over the counter teeth bleaching product at the Teeth Bleaching site.