What really keeps teeth white? Ultimately, maintaining tooth whiteness comes down to caring for your dental health. Getting sparkling white teeth that light up your smile could be simply a matter of the right routines and good quality products. Find out how to keep teeth white with this easy-to-follow plan.
1. Drink water throughout the day
Drinking water throughout the day has many obvious benefits for you and your health, such as maintaining your hydration levels and encouraging healthy skin. But drinking water throughout the day also has many benefits for your teeth, helping to keep them healthy and maintain their whiteness. Regularly drinking water¹:
- Strengthens teeth: One way to help prevent cavities in your teeth is to drink water with fluoride. Fluoride levels in water vary across the UK but you can also use a fluoride toothpaste to help protect your teeth. Brushing regularly with a fluoride toothpaste helps to make your enamel more resistant to acid produced by bacteria, food, and drinks and it can even help to repair enamel.
- Washes away food: Water washes away leftover food and residue that cavity-causing bacteria are looking for. It also dilutes the acids produced by bacteria in your mouth, helping to prevent tooth decay.
- Fights dry mouth: By drinking water throughout the day, you are less likely to get dry mouth. Dry mouth is not only an unpleasant feeling but can also contribute to tooth decay. Saliva helps to rinse away leftover food in the mouth and helps keep your teeth strong and healthy by washing them with calcium, phosphate, and fluoride.
- It’s a better option than other alternatives: Water has a PH of 7 and so is neutral. Sugary drinks and other acidic foods and drinks can wear down and stain teeth and tooth enamel.
2. Eat healthy snacks that are high in fibre
Studies suggest (although the evidence is not conclusive at this point) that a high-fibre diet can be beneficial for your oral health in many ways²:
- Inhibition of oral bacteria: High-fibre wholegrains have been shown to contain certain substances that may inhibit the growth of oral bacteria.
- Buff your teeth: The fibre in highly-fibrous foods can remove food from your teeth and gently buff the surface, removing plaque build-up.
- Increase in saliva production: Consuming high-fibre produce involves a lot of chewing, which in turn, increases your mouth’s production of saliva. As we have seen in the benefits of drinking water, an increase of saliva in the mouth is positive for your teeth.
3. Eliminate tobacco
Just as drinking water throughout the day has multiple benefits for your overall health and teeth, so too does eliminating tobacco. Tobacco is a staining agent and can cause teeth to turn yellow and so eliminating tobacco consumption is a great step when learning how to keep your teeth white³. Not only that, but tobacco use is also associated with dental issues such as gum disease and oral cancer³. Eliminating it from your diet can help to lower your risk of these complications.
4. Avoid acidic food and drink
If you’re wondering how to keep your teeth white through your diet, then reducing the number of acidic foods you consume will help. Food and drink such as coffee, tea, tomato sauce, and red wine can cause discoloration, so the more you consume, the higher the risk of losing the natural whiteness of your smile.
Acidic food and drink can also cause enamel erosion, one of the main causes of teeth losing their natural whiteness. Enamel is the white, hard, outer layer of your teeth. When it erodes, the underlying layer of dentine, which is yellow in colour, becomes exposed and this may cause teeth to become yellow in appearance.
While eliminating stain-inducing items is a good solution, it’s not always practical – and cutting out your favourites certainly isn’t fun. So, if you can’t possibly go without your morning coffee or evening glass of wine, you could always drink it through a straw – that way contact with your teeth is limited – or have a glass of water right after.
5. Have regular dental check-ups
Your dentist should be your first point of contact for essential advice on how to keep teeth healthy and white. After all, whiteness should never come at the expense of good dental health. Your dentist will not only look after the health of your teeth and gums, but they’ll also help keep your teeth white too.
A check-up is not just about spotting cavities; it’s also your opportunity to sit back and let the professionals remove plaque and give your teeth a polish. Then, it’s all about daily maintenance.
6. Maintain good daily oral hygiene
Central to knowing how to keep your teeth white is understanding how to keep teeth clean. Maintaining good daily oral hygiene is vital not just to keep teeth white, but also to keep your teeth healthy.
Incorporating an easy-to-follow routine into your busy day is the best way to keep teeth white and healthy, and the results will certainly show in your smile. Here are some tips for how to keep teeth clean and white:
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Brush twice a day: Use a toothpaste that protects and strengthens your tooth enamel like Regenerate Advanced Toothpaste – and the enamel mineral of your teeth will be regenerated*. That means healthier enamel, stronger teeth, protection against cavities, and preserved natural whiteness. Remember to wait at least 30 minutes after eating or drinking to brush your teeth, as this can help to minimise the risk of enamel erosion.
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Floss once a day: Flossing helps you to get into those difficult-to-reach places and helps keep your gums healthy.
- Use mouthwash after brushing: Rinsing for just 30 seconds after brushing will help remove any leftover residue and leave you with sweet-smelling breath: that’s a win-win-win situation.
7. Use advanced, at-home solutions to keep teeth white and healthy
In addition to your daily oral hygiene routine, a monthly serum will take your smile to the next level. Using Regenerate Advanced Enamel Serum kit for just three minutes, three days a month protects your teeth from the effects of acid attacks and enamel erosion.
In vitro tests have shown that using the kit boosts the effectiveness of Regenerate’s Advanced Toothpaste by 43%**. Most importantly, using the Advanced Toothpaste in combination with the Advanced Enamel Serum Serum provided significant increase in enamel hardness, with 82%*** recovery of enamel hardness after 3 days. That means even healthier teeth and beautiful natural whiteness.
Follow these tips to keep teeth white and healthy and you’ll soon see results – and so will those around you. Treat yourself to cutting edge at-home tooth technology with Regenerate’s clinically proven products, and by strengthening enamel and preserving your teeth’s natural whiteness your smile will certainly get noticed for all the right reasons.
*Acts on early invisible stages of enamel erosion by restoring its mineral content and micro-hardness with regular use. Clinically proven.
**As demonstrated in a 3-day in vitro test measuring enamel micro hardness: Combined use of Advanced toothpaste and Advanced serum vs. Advanced toothpaste only.
***Based on an in-vitro test measuring enamel hardness after 3 days combined use of Toothpaste and Serum.
The advice in this article does not constitute medical advice; it is solely available for information purposes. We recommend that you consult your dentist If you are experiencing any gum or tooth problems.
Sources:
1 Dentistry – Ways Drinking Water Improves Your Smile
2 TC Dental Group – How High Fibre Diet Can Improve Oral Health
3 NHS – Effect Smoking Has On Your Oral Health
