2 Steps To Help You Improve The Appearance Of Your Teeth

The condition of your teeth has a great effect on your overall appearance and can also have an affect on your self-esteem. Keeping your teeth free of stains and your oral health in good condition can all boost the appearance of your teeth and smile. Here are two steps to help you in this process.

Avoid Foods That Stain Your Teeth

One of the first ways you can keep your teeth looking great is to avoid eating and drinking foods that can stain the enamel. This includes coffee, tea, dark sodas, and wine, which can all discolor the exterior of your teeth. Red wine can obviously stain your teeth from its darker-colored tannins, but white wine can also stain your teeth as well. Also fruits such as blueberries, blackberries, and pomegranates contain dark juices that will stain your teeth after you eat them.

Foods that are highly acidic, such as citrus foods like oranges, lemons, and limes, can soften the enamel on your teeth, which can cause it to wear more quickly from your teeth. This exposes the darker dentin below your teeth's exterior white enamel, making your teeth appear to be stained.

If you need to drink teeth-staining drinks, you can use a straw to drink them to help prevent their tooth-staining ability. With a straw, much of the liquid will bypass your teeth as you swallow it, keeping it from staining your teeth as much. After eating any staining foods, rinse your mouth with a glass of water.

Whiten Your Teeth

With all the delicious foods and drinks available today that can cause your teeth to become stained and darker-colored, it can be difficult to always skip them to save your teeth. As your teeth become stained and discolored, there are many methods you can use to whiten and lighten them. There are many gels, whitening strips, and toothpastes you can buy at most stores to help whiten your teeth.

You can also practice oil pulling with coconut oil on a daily basis to whiten your teeth. When you first wake up in the morning and before you eat or drink anything or brush your teeth, take one to two teaspoons of coconut oil in your mouth and let it melt. Swish the oil around the inside of your mouth and between your teeth for up to 20 minutes. During this swishing process, the coconut oil not only whitens the exterior of your teeth by pulling stains from them, but it also traps toxins and bacteria from inside your mouth and removes plaque from your teeth.

After 20 minutes, spit the oil into the trash, rinse your mouth with clean water, and brush your teeth for the day. Your teeth will become whiter in appearance as you practice this each day, and your body's overall health can benefit from the coconut oil pulling.

Use these methods to help you keep your teeth healthy and white. You can also talk to a dentist at a dental clinic like Family First Dentistry LLC about professional treatments and teeth whitening to help improve your smile.