Discoloration of teeth is an everyday problem in our society. Aromatic discolorations can be caused by tea, coffee, tobacco and red wine and are therefore enemies of a bright white smile. But that is exactly what is perceived in our society as an ideal of beauty, generally stands for health and is indispensable for a well-groomed appearance.
For this reason, most people want perfectly white teeth and want to achieve this goal with as little cost and time as possible. The health/beauty industry has recognized the need for bright white teeth and there are many products on the market that promise whiter teeth in a fast way, but only a few of them can keep this promise. The unsatisfactory results have led many people to become creative and to try various household products that are comparably inexpensive.
The question arises how well these help or whether they might even be harmful to the teeth. For some time now, coconut oil in particular, which already seems to promise help as a beauty all-rounder in every situation in life, has experienced an upswing in the topic of teeth whitening. To what extent can coconut oil really help on the way to a bright white smile and which household remedies offer further alternatives?
What can teeth be whitened with?
Hydrogen peroxide is the agent of choice when it comes to long-term and proven teeth whitening. Not only hair is bleached with this product, but every dentist uses hydrogen peroxide when it comes to professional bleaching. The hydrogen peroxide is available in gel form in various concentrations.
For everyone who only wants to achieve a light bleaching effect, there are freely available products with a hydrogen peroxide content of up to 6% (e.g. bleaching strips from the drugstore). For a more visible bleaching result, however, hydrogen peroxide concentrations of far more than 6% are required. Higher concentrations may only be used in a dental practice by qualified personnel.
There are many different bleaching methods that can be individually adapted to the patient’s wishes and also to the current situation. If you wish to achieve brighter counts, you should first be aware that even with professional bleaching products you can achieve a maximum whitening level of about 2 shades. Every bleaching is a procedure that removes water and minerals from the teeth, which can make the teeth temporarily sensitive to thermal influences.
In addition, bleaching gel can irritate the gums when it comes into contact with them. For this purpose, the dentist applies a silicone gum shield, which minimizes the risk of gum irritation. With a professional bleaching in a dentist’s office you can achieve a clear and usually very satisfactory result in teeth whitening.
However, one must be aware that the treatment may be a bit expensive, depending on the type and duration of treatment. A cheaper alternative for whiter teeth are whitening toothpastes which are available in the drugstore, pharmacy or even in the supermarket. With these so-called whitening zanhpastes, however, special caution is required because the abrasive substances contained are much larger than those used in normal toothpastes.
This leads to the fact that the enamel, which is the uppermost layer of the tooth, is strongly roughened, which makes it easier for new discolorations to adhere to the teeth and thus after longer use often the opposite result is achieved. Another variant, which is available in most drugstores, are so-called Whitening Strips. These adhesive strips, enriched with hydrogen peroxide, are supposed to whiten the tooth permanently.
The good thing is that the gums cannot come into contact with the substance. Nevertheless, the result is often unsatisfactory and only of short duration because the peroxide is in low doses. All in all it must be said that every attempt of bleaching is only of short duration if a lot of coffee, tea, nicotine and red wine is consumed sustainably, because then the discolorations are back again in a very short time, so one should always consider whether the intervention makes sense individually.In any case, before every tooth whitening, a professional tooth cleaning should be carried out to remove discoloration from the teeth, so that the hard tooth substance itself (and not the discoloration) can then be lightened by the bleaching gel.
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