How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth
Without Destroying Your Enamel
Part of the OraWellness Dental Self Empowerment Series Written by Will and Susan Revak
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
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The smile…
It's such a little thing that we do (sometimes without even thinking about it) that can communicate so much, including health, beauty, friendliness, confidence, success, acceptance, romantic interest, and joy/happiness.
It’s no wonder that we all want a healthy smile.
Sales of commercial teeth whitening products and treatments rake in big bucks, and the companies that produce them are all too eager to plaster dazzlingly white smiles in all their ads on the Internet, TV and in magazines.
Everywhere you look, there are images of people (some of them famous) with teeth so bright, you almost need sunglasses to be able to look at them.
But what are the drawbacks of these cosmetically generated super white smiles?
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In this eBook, we will explore the following topics to discover how to whiten teeth naturally without destroying your enamel:
• What causes our teeth to discolor and how to slow/stop the process
• Conventional Teeth Whitening Strategies: The Bad News • The various commercial methods and strategies used to produce a whiter smile
• What the research really says about the risks of commercial whitening strategies
• Which commercial whitening strategies are more dangerous and why
• Natural Teeth Whitening Strategies: The Good News
• Which abrasive is the safest to use to help whiten teeth and why
• 6 safe whitening strategies
• 2 advanced techniques to safely supercharge your whitening ability
By applying the strategies in this eBook, you will easily make your teeth not only whiter, but stronger, too.
We look forward to hearing how you benefit from this information and all the beauty you bring into the world with your precious smile.
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The First Step to Whiten Your Teeth Naturally
So let’s start this journey together at the beginning... with the first step to having a naturally whiter smile.
As you’ll see from reading this eBook, having naturally whiter teeth isn’t difficult or complicated.
Take your time grasping the simple strategies below to make your teeth whiter and stronger.
We find the following story very helpful to bring our first strategy into clarity.
The analogy of the leaking boat…
Let’s say you are in a small rowboat in the middle of a lake.
You look down and notice that there is a drain hole in the bottom of the boat, but the plug to the hole isn’t in place. In other words, the boat is taking on water fast!
There is a bucket on the boat as well as the plug to plug the hole.
Which do you do first, begin bailing out water with the bucket or put the plug in place?
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Of course we would all answer this the same way: put the plug in place first to stop the boat from taking on more water, THEN begin bailing water out with the bucket.
Now let’s turn our attention back to naturally whitening our teeth.
Which do you do first, apply a whitening technique or figure out what habits you have that are causing your teeth to be less than pearly white?
Of course, we need to learn how we habitually stain our teeth so we can ‘stop the leak’.
So, the first step to having naturally whiter teeth is to make some simple changes to any daily habits that may be causing your teeth to become discolored.
Stop Staining Habits - The First Step to Naturally Whiter Teeth
First, identify what habit(s) you have that are discoloring your teeth, and either stop the habit(s) or figure out a way to enjoy the habit without discoloring your teeth.
In this way, we are ‘plugging the hole in the boat’ first. Once we stop our teeth-staining habits, then we can shift our attention to bringing back the white of our 'pearly whites’.
There’s good news and bad news with this one...
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The good news is it’s pretty easy to identify the main causes of what may be discoloring your teeth. The bad news is that most of the culprits are well engrained or downright addictive habits.
Top 4 Staining Culprits
By a long shot, these handful of habits are the most common reasons why teeth discolor.
1. Drinking Coffee (Hot or Iced) Regularly drinking coffee stains teeth. Now, I can hear your internal coffee ‘Gollum’ screaming at me right now. Soothe your internal coffee monster and then keep reading, because we will discuss easy strategies to mitigate the risk of staining from coffee.
2. Drinking Tea (Hot or Iced) Let’s face it, these daily caffeinated drinks are dark, and they are the main culprits for discoloring our teeth.
3. Drinking Red wine Starting to see a pattern here? Rich, dark colored drinks... Yes, they can be good for us (in moderation), but they do stain teeth unless we know what to do to stop the staining.
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4. Smoking This goes without saying. Needless to say, if you are a regular smoker, your teeth aren’t the only part of your body that are being damaged. I know this is a tough habit to break. Thankfully, once a person really, really commits to making the change, it becomes a little easier.
How to stop common staining drinks from discoloring your teeth
Drink beer, not wine. Ok, I'm (mostly) kidding!
When drinking any staining drink, have a glass of water ready.
That way, when you finish your cup/glass, you can take a mouthful of water and swish it around for 10-20 seconds to help clear away the staining culprit so it doesn't sit on your teeth.
As you’ll learn later in this eBook, the amount of time something sits on our teeth will determine how much the product affects our teeth.
In the case of staining drinks, swishing with water immediately after consuming them will lower the staining agent's ‘time on the teeth’, which will help reduce any potential dental discoloration.
For added support, instead of waiting until you've finished your staining drink, you can even take sips of water after each sip of coffee/tea/wine. This will help to further reduce the staining drink's 'time on the teeth'.
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Another effective strategy for whiter teeth is to become more conscious of your habitual drinking technique. While this may seem strange, even the way we drink can impact our health.
Lesson from the trenches…
We have a small farm with milk cows, a couple years, I was drinking a lot of homemade kefir. For those of you who don’t know, kefir is an acidic, fermented milk-based drink similar to a thin yogurt.
At the time, I was also experiencing tooth sensitivity on the outer, cheekside surface of my lower molars. After a while, I finally realized that the sensitivity was being caused by the way I was drinking my daily kefir smoothie.
I would take a big mouthful, and prior to swallowing it, I would allow the excess kefir to fill my lower cheeks, kind of like a squirrel stores seeds.
This habitual way I was drinking the acidic kefir was causing my tooth sensitivity.
Once I realized this cause and effect scenario was taking place, I simply changed my habit by taking smaller mouthfuls of kefir so I wouldn’t have to ‘squirrel cheek’ the excess, and the sensitivity went away.
Incidentally, in case you’re interested, here’s an article that explains how acidic drinks can cause tooth decay and what you can do to stop acidic drinks from negatively impacting your teeth.
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So, to help keep your teeth white, observe how you drink your coffee/tea/ red wine.
Do you allow it to wash over your front teeth? Do you let it sit in your mouth before swallowing it?
Most importantly, can you figure out a way to take sips without having the drink continuously bathe your teeth (especially the 'smile' ones in the front)?
For drinks like iced tea, can you use a straw to help bypass your teeth as you draw the liquid into your mouth (tip: you can even buy glass straws online)?
These are all good questions that we can ask ourselves in an effort to stop the most common culprits that cause ‘less-than-white’ teeth.
Now that we've covered some easy strategies to stop adding to our teeth stains, let’s turn our attention to understanding the various methods used in the world of teeth whitening.
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Tooth Whitening: Methods and Differences
In this chapter, let’s establish a baseline understanding of the terms used in the world of teeth whitening.
Once this foundation is in place, we can dive into the risks of commercial whitening techniques, how to naturally whiten your teeth, and even some advanced strategies you can try for a naturally whiter smile.
We will explore:
• Understanding how whitening works
• The difference between intrinsic and extrinsic tooth discoloration
• Common conventional whitening strategies
The Two Types of Stains
There are two main categories of stains that cause our teeth to be discolored.
Intrinsic stains: Intrinsic stains occur when the deeper layer of tissue, the dentin, becomes discolored.
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Common causes of intrinsic stains are:
• Dental fluorosis – when a person is exposed to too much fluoride while the teeth are forming during childhood
• Antibiotic exposure – exposure to tetracycline early in life can cause intrinsic stains
• Tooth trauma – if you injure a tooth badly, it can become permanently discolored
Extrinsic stains: Extrinsic stains are what most of us think of when we want to whiten our teeth. Extrinsic stains are on/in the surface (enamel layer) of tissue on our teeth.
Age-related discoloration: Honorable mention goes to age-related discoloration.
Teeth tend to yellow as we age.
The main reasons for this are accumulated stains and a thinning of enamel. You see, dentin (the layer of tissue in each of our teeth just under the outer enamel layer) naturally has an ‘off white’ color.
So if we wear through our enamel more quickly, our teeth will seem more discolored.
After a handful of decades drinking coffee and brushing unconsciously, you can see why teeth yellow with age.
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If we allow stains to accumulate and we brush our teeth like we are scrubbing a grout line, the combination of extrinsic stains and thinning enamel will hasten ‘age-related’ discoloration.
However, as we continue to dive into this subject, you'll see that the good news is there is much we can do to naturally whiten our teeth without compromising the long-term health of our smiles (yes, even if we consider ourselves in that ‘age-related discoloration’ group).
Let’s continue to establish some definitions on which to base our discussion…
What’s the difference between ‘whitening’ and ‘bleaching’?
While the terms 'whitening' and 'bleaching' are both used to reference making our teeth whiter, our culture definitely has leaned toward more commonly using the term ‘whitening'.
We're sure this is at least in part because the dental product industry realized that using the term 'bleaching' is a bad marketing move to describe their commercial bleaching products. Their marketing thought process might have been something like, "Who would want to knowingly put bleach in their mouth? No one will buy a product for their mouth with 'bleach' in the name! Let's call it 'whitening' instead.”
However, there are specific differences between 'bleaching' and ‘whitening'.
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For the purpose of being able to discuss this clearly in this eBook, we’ll use 'whitening' when we refer to strategies and techniques that address extrinsic (surface) stains.
On the other hand, we will use the term 'bleaching' when referring to strategies and techniques that address intrinsic (deeper/dentin tissue) stains.
Mechanical vs. Chemical Strategies
The last distinction we want to put in place is the difference between the strategies used to whiten/bleach teeth.
Mechanical whitening methods Mechanical methods use abrasives to remove surface/extrinsic stains from the teeth. Common choices are ingredients like baking soda, clay powders, and hydrated silica.
We will go into detail about the relative benefits and risks of several abrasives in the chapter on abrasive safety and effectiveness.
Chemical bleaching methods Chemical methods use various bleaching agents to address both extrinsic and intrinsic stains.
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All commercial whitening techniques use chemical bleaching agents to achieve their goal. Whether an 'at home' kit, a professional whitening treatment at your dentist’s office, or even just commercial ‘whitening’ toothpaste, all products and techniques we have reviewed use chemical means for whitening (bleaching) teeth.
These chemical agents work by bleaching the extrinsic stains as well as intrinsic stains (they actually penetrate the teeth and bleach the dentinal layer of tissue).
The ingredients used in commercial bleaching (whitening) products There are currently four main chemical agents used in tooth ‘whitening’ kits/treatments.
As you’ll see, they all use the same strategy: use free oxygen to oxidize extrinsic and intrinsic stains , which removes the stains from the teeth.
It's no coincidence that you’ll probably recognize most, if not all, of the chemicals in these products. After all, they're the ingredients used to bleach (whiten) our laundry.
We will do a more in-depth exploration of the relative risks of each of these later in this eBook.
For now, let’s quickly introduce you to these 4 common bleaching agents.
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Hydrogen peroxide: Hydrogen peroxide has been the ‘go to’ bleaching method for many years.
However, like most things in life, "the dose makes the poison". In other words, the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide can influence how much it helps or hurts. Over the years, more and more studies have shown some potential drawbacks for using hydrogen peroxide at the concentrations used in tooth bleaching.
Note to HealThy Mouth System customers: in a later chapter we will examine the risks associated with tooth whitening methods (including the risks of using hydrogen peroxide) as well as how to safely use hydrogen peroxide.
Carbamide peroxide: Carbamide peroxide is a solid crystalline form of peroxide that is created by combining hydrogen peroxide with urea. When carbamide peroxide dissolves in water, it turns into hydrogen peroxide.
It’s a different delivery of peroxide that studies seem to suggest has fewer drawbacks than traditional, hydrogen peroxide based bleaching methods.
An important point on concentrations… As we touched on earlier, the concentration of peroxide (whether hydrogen or carbamide) has a huge impact on whether this product is going to be safe or risky to use in the mouth.
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So, it's important to know that a whitening system has to use 3 times the carbamide peroxide to obtain the same amount of hydrogen peroxide. In other words, a 15% solution of carbamide peroxide yields a 5% hydrogen peroxide solution.
We will dive much deeper into the subject of concentration in a later chapter that discusses the risks of whitening products.
Chlorine dioxide: Chlorine dioxide is considered by some to be safer than the other chemicals we've discussed so far. However, like so many other products marketed as ‘new and improved’, it's good to question why companies began using new ingredients.
Let's examine the reason why the conventional dental product industry began using chlorine dioxide. This will help to shed light on this confusing subject.
It turns out that the UK had some pretty big concerns about allowing the use of peroxide (either hydrogen or carbamide) in tooth bleaching products. The UK government put restrictive laws in place to limit the amount of peroxide that could be legally used in tooth whitening kits.
So, in an effort to find a ‘workaround’ for this legislation (which was clearly written based on the use of peroxides), the conventional dental industry turned to chlorine dioxide.
More on chlorine dioxide and its relative safety in the chapter on risks.
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Sodium Perborate: Sodium perborate is a lesser-used chemical for bleaching treatments. Like the other strategies we've touched on, sodium perborate also uses ‘free oxygen’ (in the form of hydrogen peroxide) to soak into and whiten the teeth.
Bringing it all together
Let’s take all this information and distill it down to the ‘gems’.
Here are some key points from the methods and definitions covered in this chapter.
• Whitening techniques use mechanical methods to remove extrinsic stains.
• Bleaching techniques use chemical methods to remove both extrinsic and intrinsic stains.
• The dental products industry has chosen to move away from the term 'bleaching' and instead associate themselves with the less-toxicsounding term, 'whitening'. However, that still doesn’t change the fact that all commercially sold ‘whitening’ treatments use bleaching agents to accomplish their goals.
Now that we have these terms defined, we can turn our attention to the relative risks of each of these conventional strategies, how to use conventional strategies more wisely to reduce these risks, and some strategies to naturally whiten our smiles.
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Can tooth whitening treatments destroy your teeth?
Bringing bad news has never been a favorite for us.
Because of this, we find it challenging to write about what the research really says about commercial teeth bleaching.
We much prefer to discuss solutions to help each of us navigate the path to greater oral health.
So, it’s in this spirit of helping you along your path to a happier, healthier mouth that we share our research on the various risks of conventional teeth bleaching treatments.
The ‘Spin’ Placed on Research
The ‘official’ word on the risks of conventional tooth bleaching treatments states that the two common complaints are increased tooth sensitivity and gum tissue irritation.
However, digging further into the research exposed that there are many other very real concerns about whitening treatments including:
~ tooth surface roughening and softening
~ increased potential for demineralization
~ increased risk of tooth fracture
~ degradation of dental restorations
~ unacceptable color change of dental restorations
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So, to help you determine if conventional teeth whitening/bleaching treatments should be part of your oral health plan, let’s make our way through understanding what’s really behind these complaints and risks.
Quick note: While we researched many clinical studies for this article, the main resource we reference – and arguably the most respected compilation on this subject – is “Hydrogen Peroxide, in its free form or when released, in oral hygiene products and tooth whitening products” which was published by the European Union Scientific Committee on Consumer Products in 2007. Please see the list provided at the end of each chapter for a more complete list of the studies we reference.
How common are the complaints?
In a large survey of 8,143 dentists, 91% of the dentists stated that they had used tooth bleaching in their practice. Here’s the tally of the side effects reported to these dentists:
62.2% noted tooth hypersensitivity
45.9% reported soft tissue irritation
2.1% noted systemic effects
18.8% reported no side effects. (1)
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Increased tooth sensitivity
Hands down, the #1 complaint about bleaching treatments is increased sensitivity.
This makes total sense when we consider that teeth are porous and have tiny holes on their surface. Bleaching agents travel through these tiny holes and penetrate the tooth surface, oxidizing any staining agents on their journey into the teeth. This is why these bleaching chemicals work they whiten by bleaching these tiny pathways through our teeth.
In another study, volunteers used either home-based or dentist-delivered whitening techniques. Results showed that up to 70% of the volunteers experienced sensitivity, and 13.8% of the participants actually withdrew from the study due to mouth pain. (2)
What the post-whitening sensitivity is really saying… The research shows that bleaching agents cause an inflammatory response in the deepest layers of our teeth (at the junction of the dentin and tooth pulp).
This inflammation corresponds to the pain patients have from whitening treatments. (1)
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Our concerns with the tooth sensitivity risk:
We believe that anything we use in the mouth should help us move toward the direction of optimal oral health. So, if some chemical causes a temporary inflammatory response inside the deepest layer of our teeth, this causes real concern for us.
Is it a huge deal?
Maybe not. After all, for almost all participants, the hyper-sensitivity subsided within a week after the bleaching.
However, in all fairness, we should also mention that for some people, the increased tooth sensitivity was permanent after a bleaching treatment.
But does the research clearly show that bleaching agents cause a stress to the immune system (which results in tissue inflammation)?
Yes, it does.
It just seems to us that our immune systems can only take so many ‘whacks’ before they begin to show signs of wear and tear.
Yeah, there’s a place to argue that we need some challenge/stress to get stronger, and we agree with that. But is the risk of causing inflammation in the deepest layer of our teeth tissue really worth it?
That’s your call...
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Gum tissue irritation
Teeth are one thing, and gum tissue is a whole other subject…
Our gums like to be (gently) stimulated. They like to be massaged.
However, our gums don’t like chemical warfare or being tortured by poorly fitting mouth trays. These bleaching agents are meant for the teeth (even more specifically, tooth enamel).
When these strong bleaching agents sit on our gum tissue, they fry it.
Again, is it a permanent issue? No.
Gum tissue can and will regenerate (think of how many times you’ve accidentally burned the roof of your mouth with hot food or drink and the soft tissue sloughed off and recovered).
But again, why cause more stress to tissue that, for most of us, is challenged to begin with? Speaking of stressed tissue, if you tend to get canker sores, aggressive whitening/bleaching strategies can make the situation much worse.
At the risk of freaking you out, there is substantial research that suggests that high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (like those used in dental office bleaching procedures) can increase the risk of oral cancer.
There's much more information on hydrogen peroxide and concentrations below.
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Risk of losing enamel
Losing enamel is serious.
According to the European Journal of Dentistry, “All bleaching treatments... promoted a significant reduction in the microhardness values [of enamel].” (4)
This study tested various strengths of bleaching treatments (including some that used special lights to accelerate the ‘in office’ bleaching process).
The study found that 24 hours after bleaching, there was up to an 8.5% loss of hardness of enamel. The amount of enamel hardness that was lost directly related to the strength of the bleaching agent that was used.
In other words, the higher the concentration of bleaching agent, the higher the loss of enamel strength. There was an 8.5% loss when 35% hydrogen peroxide + light were used, and only a 1.3% loss when a 15% hydrogen peroxide concentration was administered without using the light.
As we touched on before, the good news is our bodies, including our mouths, are always repairing the crazy damage we inflict upon them.
That’s the case with this loss of enamel microhardness, too.
Within a week, the body will remineralize the loss, and teeth will be back to their ‘normal’ hardness.
But at what cost?
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What damage can be done while the enamel is in this state of reduced hardness?
Aren’t most of us trying to maintain decay-free mouths without this insult to enamel hardness?
Do you think there’s an increased risk of removing this softened enamel as we go about our regular hygiene habits?
You bet there is.
Permanent Enamel Loss - The Hidden Risk of Whitening
We've discussed how enamel micro- hardness was reduced up to 8.5% when the hardness was tested 24 hours after a bleaching session, and we know that enamel hardness reverted back to ‘pre-whitening’ levels after a week.
However, we're not out of the woods yet: several studies show a significant risk of permanent enamel loss due to abrasion of enamel that was weakened by bleaching.
One study states there was a “significant increase in enamel wear following treatment protocols.” What's more, this particular study that noted the enamel wear had used hydrogen and carbamide peroxide concentrations that were on the lower end of those used commercially (yikes!). (1)
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What all this means to us is that bleaching causes a temporary softness of tooth enamel, and if we brush unconsciously during this period of time, we run the very real risk of removing enamel permanently.
This situation can become a vicious cycle: loss of enamel is one of the main reasons that our teeth discolor with age, so we bleach more and lose more enamel, which further causes discoloration, etc.
Risk of Tooth Fracture
Here's a special word of caution for anyone with gum recession:
Up until now, we’ve been talking about the potential risks of bleaching agents mostly as they relate to tooth enamel. However, if a person has some gum recession, this means that their gums have withdrawn from their original height thereby exposing the dentin layer that’s normally covered (protected) by gum tissue.
And dentin isn’t as hard as enamel… So, teeth with exposed dentin (like teeth with gum recession) are at an increased risk of fracturing. No one wants their tooth to break while they are chewing…
One study tested the relative strength of dentin after bleaching and found a significant reduction in fracture resistance. In other words, the dentin became more brittle/easily breakable after bleaching.
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In the closing statement of one study, the authors note, “[c]aution should be considered when using bleach for prolonged treatment times in clinical cases where there is dentin exposure such as gingival recession.” (5)
Are Bleaching Treatments Really That Bad?
We have to state that many studies show that the risks from bleaching are insignificant.
However, we feel that the severity of the risks identified can depend on who is sponsoring the study, and how they ‘spin’ it (some studies are more biased and have been designed to produce the results that the conventional dental industry desires).
Also, there are significant differences between how all these studies were set up, what parameters were used, etc., which can cause two similar studies to come up with very different conclusions.
That said, even the studies that ‘show no negative results’ state,
“Numerous studies have indicated negligible changes in enamel surface texture associated with peroxide bleaching. When changes are observed, they are for the most part minor, involving the formation of shallow depressions or increased porosities. These are likely to be a side effect of the bleaching matrices.” (6)
Uh, I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider 'shallow depressions or increased porosities' in my teeth to be negligible changes.
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Special ‘Under the Bus’ Award for Chlorine Dioxide
Linda Greenwall, a dental specialist in the UK who literally wrote the book on tooth whitening, said when referencing chlorine dioxide, “These products are causing harm to teeth.”
Greenwald explains that the problem with chlorine dioxide is it’s very acidic (pH of 1-3!). So, when chlorine dioxide is used on the teeth for bleaching, the damage is compounded.
“Placing this directly on teeth can result in permanent etching of tooth enamel.”
“Damaging effect of chlorine dioxide whitening treatment on teeth: etching of teeth, loss of tooth luster, teeth appearing more discolored, teeth absorbing more stains than before (due to loss of protective enamel), teeth feeling rough, increased sensitivity (sometimes permanent).”(7)
With all this said, how can OraWellness encourage the use of hydrogen peroxide for our HealThy Mouth System? First off, it’s super important that we clarify that we ONLY endorse the use of hydrogen peroxide in the mouth at a maximum concentration of 1.5%. As our HealThy Mouth System users know, we recommend starting with a 1.0% hydrogen peroxide solution.
You see, concentration does make a HUGE difference.
It’s important for us to grasp that some of our immune system cells create hydrogen peroxide that is used to defend us from ‘bad bugs’. So, it’s not
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that hydrogen peroxide itself is necessarily good or bad. Rather, it's the concentration that determines whether it helps or harms.
Here's another example of the importance of dosage/concentration: we all know that drinking water is good for us.
But you can drink too much water and actually drink yourself to death.
It’s called dilutional hyponatremia. Strange but true.
To further illustrate this point, let’s reflect on one study that examined the ability of hydrogen peroxide to penetrate tooth tissue and reach the tooth pulp... Peroxide was detected in the pulp cavity as early as 15 minutes following exposure of enamel to 10 or 30% hydrogen peroxide, and the amounts detected in the pulp cavity were proportional to the dose that had been administered (the higher the dose, the higher the amount of hydrogen peroxide that was detected in the pulp cavity). (8)
Long-Term Implications of Whitening Treatments
Let’s close by keeping in mind that our teeth are meant to last a lifetime if we care for them well.
One last study concluded, “...that the results indicated a need to warn patients of the potential for enamel alteration and its detrimental effect on tooth structure even if the long-term consequences have yet to be conclusively determined” (9).
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“So is bleaching safe or not?”
We have attempted to present the research here so you can make an educated choice whether or not conventional whitening treatments are safe for you.
This is a value judgment mostly based on how much you want to whiten your teeth compared to the risks as you understand them now.
If you choose to bleach…
Now that we've taken a look at some conclusions from studies on teeth whitening, there are things we can do to help mitigate the potential risks of bleaching.
Here are some quick ‘takeaway’ gems:
1. Use LOW concentrations. Don’t be sold on the alleged safety of bleaching agents with higher concentrations. While there are plenty of studies that ‘prove’ their safety, there are many other studies that suggest a more conservative approach is wise. Think marathon, not sprint.
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2. Brush extra gently and consciously for a while after bleaching. Yes, you want to keep your smile white, but just be really conscious about how you brush because there is a very real risk of brushing away your enamel. Also, be cautious using pastes or powders that are ‘whitening’ during this time, as they most likely are more abrasive, which could make the enamel erosion even more extreme.
3. Choose carbamide peroxide (low concentration). Studies show that carbamide peroxide penetrates the teeth less. This feels better to us in terms of the potential impact on tooth pulp, Because it suggests that carbamide peroxide might cause less inflammation to the tooth pulp (so it might be less irritating).
Our final word on the risks...
Similar to our stance on the use of fluoride in the mouth, we feel that if these conventional bleaching treatments were the only way to have a naturally whiter smile, we would have to take a closer look regarding whether they were ‘worth the risk’ to us.
Thankfully, there are other strategies that we all can apply to help us have a whiter smile without compromising the health of our teeth and gums.
Now that we've finished delivering the bad news regarding the risks of conventional whitening treatments, let’s happily turn our attention to safer, less invasive whitening strategies.
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
Sources: (1) http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_sccp/docs/ sccp_o_122.pdf
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22616927
(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1402591
(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4319295/table/T2/
(5) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17374116?dopt=Abstract
(6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1432795
(7) http://www.academia.edu/5820972/ The_dangers_of_chlorine_dioxide_tooth_bleaching
(8) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3481804
(9) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9667168
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What’s the Safest Abrasive for Whitening Teeth Naturally?
Let’s shift our focus to mechanical whitening methods as well as the relative safety and effectiveness of ingredients we can use to help remove stains from our teeth.
In particular, we want to focus on understanding how abrasives help remove surface stains, how to use abrasives safely, and which abrasives work best (as well as which to avoid).
The problem with abrasives…
The obvious problem with using abrasives to remove surface stains and whiten our teeth is that abrasives are, well, abrasive.
They can cause wear to our enamel.
This problem is further exacerbated if we brush unconsciously.
The dental industry and FDA use a term called Relative Dentin Abrasivity (RDA) to score how ‘rough’ an ingredient is on our teeth.
These abrasivity scores range from 0 to 269, with zero being 'no abrasivity' and 269 as 'something you could use in place of sandpaper'. :)
Incidentally, the reason we’re ok with using baking soda in our oral hygiene habits is because baking soda has an RDA of 7.
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On the other end of the RDA scale, you’ll find some commercial ‘whitening’ products with scores as high as 200 (yikes!).
Here’s a full list if you want to take a more in-depth look at Relative Dentin Abrasivity values.
Why abrasives work…
Simply put, abrasives help us to ‘scrub’ surface stains from our teeth.
Remember the 4 most common staining culprits (coffee, tea, red wine, and smoking)?
Abrasives work by rubbing away these stains from our teeth (in contrast to chemical bleaching treatments, which bleach away stains).
In fact, studies have been conducted to determine how effective an ingredient is at removing stains.
Researchers created a scale called Pellicle Cleaning Ratio (PCR) to rank how effectively a product like baking soda removes stains from teeth.
As you’ve probably guessed, in general, the more abrasive an ingredient is (the higher its abrasivity value), the more effective that ingredient is for removing stains (the better its Pellicle Cleaning Ratio).
The rub (pun intended) is that the higher the abrasivity, the better it removes stains AND the greater the potential it has for damaging our teeth.
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Watch out for hydrated silica
Hydrated silica is a really, really common ingredient in many commercial toothpastes and tooth powders (yes, even the ‘healthy’ ones).
As an ingredient, hydrated silica also goes by the names 'diatomaceous earth' (DE) and 'silicon dioxide’.
While hydrated silica isn’t as terrible as many other crazy ingredients, research does state that products containing hydrated silica are more abrasive to our teeth.
When you combine a product that is ‘more abrasive’ with the fact that most of our culture scrubs their teeth and gums unconsciously like we're scrubbing a grout line in our shower, we can wind up cause more harm than good to our teeth and gums by brushing with hydrated silica.
In one study we read, researchers stated, “...dentifrices marketed as “whitening” products were generally more abrasive to dentin, especially for those containing silicas.”
So, we went on a quest to find an ingredient that has a low abrasivity (RDA) value AND a higher cleaning ability (PCR).
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Combining low abrasivity and high cleaning ability…
In one study, researchers ranked 26 commercial oral hygiene products based on their abrasivity, cleaning ability, AND their overall ‘cleaning efficiency’.
Researchers found that a relationship exists between the relative abrasivity and the cleaning ability.
They came up with what they called a ‘Cleaning Efficiency Index’ (CEI).
Let’s look at a couple examples of how this ‘Cleaning Efficiency Index’ works.
If, for example, a product was a low abrasive AND had low cleaning ability, its efficiency index score was low, too. However, if a product was a high abrasive AND had high cleaning ability, its efficiency could still be low.
The Cleaning Efficiency Index really ranks the combination of abrasivity and cleaning ability.
What researchers were looking for was a product ingredient that was both a low abrasive AND that had high cleaning ability. This combination would give the highest ‘cleaning efficiency’ index score.
And they found it.
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The ingredient with the highest cleaning efficiency
While researching these 26 tooth products, scientists found that some products had a higher cleaning efficiency than others.
One of the higher scores was from products containing fuller's earth, which had a cleaning efficiency score of 86. Common names for fuller’s earth are 'bentonite' or 'montmorillonite clay'.
But there was one ingredient that had an even higher score of 98, achieving the highest cleaning efficiency value: white kaolin clay.
White kaolin clay is commonly used in the cosmetic industry. If you've ever felt white kaolin clay, you know it's super soft and fine.
The combination of low abrasivity and high cleaning capacity gave white kaolin clay the highest score on the ‘cleaning efficiency index’.
(For you DIYers, here’s a link to white kaolin.)
By the way, our HealThy Mouth Blend contains no abrasives in it, yet we have received many testimonials from happy customers sharing how their teeth became whiter from using our HealThy Mouth Blend.
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Bringing this all together...
While we all want a whiter smile, let’s be mindful to make sure that the strategies we apply to help us have a whiter smile also help us have a healthier smile.
Let’s bring all this information into one last chapter that details the best practices as well as a few advanced strategies to help you achieve that whiter AND healthier smile!
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
Our culture is becoming increasingly fascinated with white teeth, and this drives the teeth whitening industry.
Every day we are inundated with images of celebrities flashing their shiny, blindingly white teeth, so it's no surprise that many of us want to have an ultra white smile, too.
Let’s dive into several strategies that we have researched and believe to be safe for long-term use.
We will also discuss some ‘super charged’ strategies to provide extra whitening support without the potential risks associated with conventional whitening (bleaching) treatments.
How can I safely and naturally whiten my teeth?
In today's society, many of us have an 'instant gratification' or ‘I want it now’ mentality. I mean, each of us has this impatient 3 or 4-year-old child within us that wants today’s desires fulfilled YESTERDAY.
If we allow our impatient inner child to steer us when it comes to whitening our teeth, we’re heading toward trouble.
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
The analogy of a sprint vs. a marathon
If we want massive whitening change fast, we’re going to pay for that in the long run. We have to be willing to think about ‘the long game’ rather than short-term benefits when it comes to creating whiter teeth.
The good news is there are plenty of things you can do to help naturally whiten your teeth without destroying your enamel, but it’s not going to happen overnight.
The long-term game plan to a healthy white smile
Here’s a simple 3-step ‘game plan’ to help you achieve whiter and healthier teeth.
Step 1: Take dated photos of your smile so you can track your progress.
You know we love feedback mechanisms because they give us an objective way to see our progress. Without feedback mechanisms like pictures, it’s really tough to see the positive changes you’re making.
Step 2: Set a course.
Read through this list below and decide what strategy you plan to use.
Then give yourself 2-3 months and mark on your calendar the day to take your second ‘before/after’ photo.
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Be sure to take the photos in the same location at the same time of day/ with the same lighting so you can be as objective as possible when tracking your progress.
Step 3: Take preventive steps.
Whatever strategy you choose, be sure to also take steps to stop/prevent continued discoloration of your teeth. This will give you a jump start on your natural whitening plan.
After all, letting red wine or a green smoothies sit on your teeth while trying to naturally whiten your teeth is taking two steps forward and one step back.
Our favorite safe whitening strategies
1. Oil pulling Hands down, our favorite whitening strategy is oil pulling. Just in case you aren’t familiar with oil pulling, here’s an article we wrote several years ago detailing this ‘old school’ detox protocol.
The reason oil pulling is our favorite solution for naturally whitening our teeth is because unlike so many other whitening strategies that risk damaging enamel and gum tissue, oil pulling actually helps reduce tooth decay and gingivitis.
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
The ‘downside’ of oil pulling… The downside to oil pulling is that it does take some time (the protocol traditionally suggests 20 minutes of vigorously swishing oil around your mouth).
The reason oil pulling works to help whiten teeth is similar to what oil is doing in your car’s engine.
Think about it.
When the oil in your car is changed, the new oil you put in is clean, and the used oil that leaves your car is all gunky.
The gunky oil contains any waste that the oil gathered from the engine while it was running. When the oil is changed, the gunk leaves along with the old oil.
The same goes for oil pulling.
It’s been scientifically proven that oil pulling helps stop gum disease. And if you use coconut oil, you’ll lower your risk of tooth decay, too. A component of coconut oil called 'monolaurin' has shown to be a very effective antimicrobial against strep mutans, the main bug implicated with tooth decay.
By the way, if you’d like to learn other reasons why oil pulling is good for us, here’s a video about a similar, related technique.
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2. Baking soda While some folks on the Internet may argue that baking soda is too abrasive for regular use in the mouth, the science says that baking soda is actually pretty soft.
Remember earlier in this eBook while talking about which abrasives are safest, we introduced a scale called 'Relative Dentin Abrasivity' (or 'RDA' for short)?
On this scale, dental researchers have ranked lots of oral hygiene products to determine how abrasive they are. The scale goes from 0 (no abrasivity) to 269 (an abrasivity level that indicates the product would do well to polish your grandfather’s rusted antique car bumper).
Baking soda is a 7 on the RDA scale, so really low abrasivity.
The game with using baking soda to whiten is to gently focus on the front teeth while the baking soda shifts from powder to solution mixed with saliva.
Once baking soda is basically liquid in your mouth (mixed with saliva), it will still have some gentle ability to remove stains, but if your goal is whitening, focus on front teeth first.
Remember, be gentle. It’s a marathon. Just because baking soda has a low RDA score doesn’t mean that you should scrub super hard with it.
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3. Clay Clays are very soft (low abrasive), yet they're able to polish more effectively than other products.
And, like we discussed in a previous chapter, one specific type of clay, white kaolin clay, has the highest research score on its ‘Cleaning Efficiency’.
This cleaning efficiency is a combination of a low abrasivity score and a high ability to remove stains.
While any clay is decent, white kaolin clay has the highest cleaning efficiency score by quite a bit.
Using clay is the same game as using baking soda: focus on front teeth while the clay is incorporated into saliva.
4. Activated charcoal Activated charcoal is another very popular at-home alternative teeth whitening strategy.
Some say it works wonders. Others argue that it doesn’t work. (1)
We think much of the disparity in opinions could be that those who say activated charcoal doesn’t work expect charcoal to work like their commercial whitening strips (aka overnight). (2)
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Remember the marathon...
When used in the mouth, activated charcoal binds to the gunk so we can expel it (similar to oil pulling), so it makes sense that activated charcoal would help draw stains out of the teeth.
After all, activated charcoal's binding ability is so great that it can also be used internally to help alleviate a recent case of food poisoning.
In fact, when we travel we always carry a bottle of activated charcoal capsules in case we get food poisoning from dining out while on the road.
Potential risks of daily use of activated charcoal? However, we do have some concerns about potential problems that may arise from regularly using activated charcoal as a whitening tooth powder.
You see, the reason activated charcoal works for food poisoning is because it binds to whatever it comes into contact with.
There are warnings regarding the internal use of activated charcoal, as activated charcoal can interfere with the absorption of medications, vitamins, and minerals.
One of the reasons we brush our teeth is to increase the saliva in our mouths. Our mineral-rich saliva then makes contact with our teeth, which aids in their remineralization.
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However, if we brush with activated charcoal on a daily basis, our concern is that the charcoal will bind to the minerals in our saliva and inhibit this important remineralizing process for our teeth.
So, we consider brushing with activated charcoal safe only if it's used conservatively and for short periods of time. Try using it sparingly or perhaps for 1-2 weeks to whiten your teeth.
We encourage avoiding the use of activated charcoal in the mouth on a daily basis until further research shows that doing so doesn’t adversely affect remineralization.
5. Diluted hydrogen peroxide We know that some of you may be saying right now, “Wait a second! Isn’t it hydrogen peroxide that causes all the problems in conventional teeth whitening treatments?” And you’re right.
However, like with many situations, the details make the difference.
In this case, we have to consider the concentration of hydrogen peroxide used in the mouth.
Many studies show that hydrogen peroxide is dangerous at higher concentrations, like those used in conventional whitening treatments.
Some studies even show potential risks at concentrations as low as 3%.
Back to the marathon...
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If you choose to use hydrogen peroxide to support teeth whitening, use it at a really low concentration. We don’t suggest using anything higher than 1% (or maximum 1.5%) concentration.
Our bodies produce hydrogen peroxide Given all the mixed press on hydrogen peroxide, it may be helpful to know that the human body produces hydrogen peroxide primarily in the lungs, gut and thyroid gland.
A fascinating study done in 2009 at Harvard University suggests that the presence of hydrogen peroxide actually ‘calls’ the immune system to an injury. (3) This makes sense when you consider that hydrogen peroxide is such a biologically fundamental ‘defense’ strategy at a cellular level.
For this reason, we stand behind the idea of using diluted hydrogen peroxide when someone is taking steps to address significant gum disease.
But given the mixed conclusions from studies regarding the relative safety of hydrogen peroxide, since in this eBook we’re talking about the purely cosmetic issue of creating whiter teeth, we suggest you give our other recommended solutions a shot first and try to avoid using peroxide for whitening.
That said, if you choose to use diluted hydrogen peroxide in the mouth, keep the concentration really, really low and swish for several minutes to increase the ‘time on the teeth’.
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
6. Turmeric Honorable mention goes to using powdered turmeric as a natural tooth whitener.
We haven’t tried using turmeric in this way so can’t speak to its effectiveness.
Here’s a word of warning: turmeric will stain anything it touches, including your clothes, your toothbrush, and your bathroom sink.
However, folks who claim turmeric helps whiten teeth are happy to show you their smiles that aren’t stained.
How to Maximize Your Natural Whitening Effect
The ‘time on the teeth’ factor...
Other than abrasive strategies which simply scrub stains off teeth, all whitening techniques, whether we are talking about the conventional bleaching techniques or natural whitening, rely on time to help remove stains from teeth.
Incidentally, this is why commercial ‘whitening toothpastes’ that contain some form of peroxide really don’t help.
They don’t have enough ‘time on the teeth’ to do their bleaching/whitening job.
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
So, to give whatever natural strategy you choose even more positive impact, let it hang around on your teeth for a few minutes before you rinse.
Even better, try some of these ‘hybrid’ techniques to provide even more potent whitening effect.
Advanced ‘supercharged’ strategies
It makes a lot of sense to us to combine two or more of these strategies to maximize the efficiency of the time you spend to whiten your teeth.
1. Oil pulling and activated charcoal Perhaps try mixing a capsule of activated charcoal with the oil you plan to use for oil pulling today. This way, you’ll benefit from the stain removing ability of oil pulling AND help to draw out stains with activated charcoal AND will have the ‘time on the teeth’ factor taken care of by the amount of time you commit to oil pulling.
As far as a 'bang for the buck' efficiency for naturally whitening your teeth, this combo is our first pick. If you have a wedding to go to and your ‘I want it now’ inner toddler is getting the best of you, try oil pulling with a capsule of activated charcoal mixed into the oil.
Just remember to spit the used oil into a trashcan, as it’s going to be a mess (and may clog your pipes) if you try to spit into the bathroom sink!
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2. Brush with baking soda and clay powder Make a mix of baking soda and clay powder to benefit from the gentle abrasive of each. Perhaps add in a little xylitol to support remineralization while you’re at it! Start with equal amounts of each and adjust the powder based on what your mouth tells you is best.
In the end, whatever strategy(ies) you choose, be sure to care for your enamel by going about it gently and consciously.
Remember the marathon.
We hope these strategies help you have a healthier, happier (and brighter) smile today and always!
How about you?
What strategies have you used to whiten your teeth?
Have you found benefit from them?
Any you suggest we stay away from?
We love to hear how the world benefits from applying the strategies we share. Please email us at
[email protected] with your results!
If you really are gung ho, email us your ‘before and after’ photos and a testimonial and we’ll send you a free gift! :)
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How to Naturally Whiten Your Teeth Without Destroying Your Enamel
Sources:
(1) http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health/advice/a3764/charcoaltoothpaste-pros-cons/
(2) http://www.xovain.com/how-to/does-activated-charcoal-whiten-teeth
(3) http://web.med.harvard.edu/sites/RELEASES/html/ 060309_mitchison.html
We hope this eBook has supplied you with the research behind the whitening/bleaching industry as well as some helpful ideas how you can help restore your teeth to a bright, while smile.
The world needs more people willing to smile and let their Light shine.
If you know others who might benefit from this information (we all know people who bleach their teeth and think it’s ok), please consider sharing info about OraWellness with them. We appreciate your help in spreading the word.
Thank you and Aloha!
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