Natural Ways to Whiten Your Teeth

These natural ways to whiten your teeth can help if you already look after your teeth, use zero-waste toothpastes but still have yellow gnashers! The good news is that yellow teeth are usually a sign of stronger teeth. In fact, most of our nation’s teeth are fine, it’s just comparing them to American teeth, who often have professional whitening treatments. Actress Anna Friel (who is very beautiful with lovely teeth) was forced to have her teeth whitened, when she had a big TV role in the US some years back. She was offended at first, but afterwards said that ‘compared to everyone else, my teeth looked green!’

The bad news for many Americans is that the constant chemical whitening will likely weaken teeth over  time. All professional dentists tell people to stay away from the home whitening kits in the chemist, because you should not mess around with products that contain bleach, without the skill of a dentist. But if you don’t have money for a professional dentist job, then what do you do? Here are a few ideas. They won’t do much, but may help:

1. Drink less ‘stain’ foods. Strong tea or coffee, red wine.
2. Give up smoking, another obvious choice.
3. Ollie & Co Natural Whitening Toothpowder (New Forest) is sold in a glass jar and hessian bag. Made with just 3 ingredients: baking soda (only use a few weeks at a time for sensitive teeth), titanium clay and sweet fennel oil (aniseed). Just dip a clean bamboo toothbrush in the powder, brush for 2 minutes, then rinse well. Replace the lid and store in a dry place (used twice daily, lasts up to 2 months).
4. Don’t worry about it! As we get older, the enamel wears away to reveal the dentin underneath. So often you can’t ‘scrub away the stain’, it’s just your ‘old brown teeth’ showing through underneath! Nobody cares, really! If you want to slow things down, eat good things (plant proteins, veggies) and avoid bad things that destroy enamel (diet soda).
5. Too much fluoride is believed to contribute to early teeth yellowing. You don’t need fluoride unless prescribed topically by a dentist (it’s just usually phosphate fertiliser that’s ‘recycled in your mouth for profit’). Ireland has been fluoridating the tap water for decades, with no beneficial effect on dental health. Just use a natural fluoride-free toothpaste instead (tooth decay is not caused by lack of fluoride, it’s caused by sugary foods). Water is fluoridated because governments believe that parents can’t feed their children properly (and to recycle phosphate fertiliser).
6. Too many antibiotics is another culprit. If you need them, take them. But don’t rely on them, over everything else.
7. Some people use activated charcoal toothpaste, but most probably contain too little to make a difference. If you do use it, doctors say to avoid it if you have crowns, caps or porcelain veneers.

Is Oil-Pulling Safe?

This is an Ayurvedic idea from India, and quite a hassle, but some people use it. Children and those with risk of oil ingestion (or oil inhalation – a tiny risk of lipid pneumonia) should not practice oil-pulling, nor anyone with poor coordination (tipping the head back could lead you to swallowing the oil). If the oil does not turn ‘thin and white’, you are not doing it properly. Reports are coming out that koalas are sometimes being harmed through harvesting eucalyptus, so choose other flavours for now. 

Georganics Oil-Pulling Mouthwash is sold in tins, with organic coconut & essential oils (peppermint, spearmint, tea tree, red mandarin). You basically swish it around in your mouth for a few minutes, and it loosens all the nasties from your mouth, which you then spit out. Some say this is so effective you have to be careful. If you use this with braces – when they are removed, you could end up with ‘two-tone teeth!’