13 Natural Methods for Teeth Whitening

Appearance is not only important but good appearance like colour of your teeth reflects the state of your overall health. 

I remember the TV ad about the teacher who taught the kids about colors, and when she asked them what was the color of her teeth, they said yellow and beige but not white.

Of course she was upset. Who wouldn’t be upset? Even if you maintain a perfect oral hygiene, the color of your teeth gradually darkens with age. However using natural methods, you can return your teeth to the perfect white color without going to the dentist.

White teeth and aesthetic mouth affect our overall appearance, the impression we leave, and our interpersonal communications. A study conducted in U.S. found that people with whiter and aesthetic smile are 30% more successful than people with a not perfect smile, get higher positions more easily, have higher confidence and radiate health and happiness.

But over the years, teeth may yellow or change color and lose their luster and whiteness. The reasons are varied, including smoking, age, genetics, injury, bad fillings, root canals, lack of oral hygiene, consuming foods that stain the teeth like wine, coffee , tea and some spices, consumption of acidic beverages such as soda or citrus juices that erode the enamel, some antibiotic treatments in childhood and fluoride.

Methods that will help you get whiter teeth:

There are a variety of treatments and products for teeth whitening: You can have teeth whitening treatment in clinic using laser or LED, or using whitening gel, and you can use household products including whitening toothpastes and mouthwashes, teeth whitening stickers or bottles containing whitening liquid which you apply to your teeth using a special brush.

It is important to remember that medical bleach (high concentration hydrogen peroxide based gel) is indeed very effective, but during the whitening teeth process there is oxidation of dentin (the inner layer of the tooth). The acidic substance may lead to irritation of the nerve, to pain and sensitivity. On the other hand, domestic products based on the low concentration of the active ingredient are washed away by saliva, so are less effective, and the results are disappointing and are not significant  for the long term. So what can you do?

1. Baking soda

Mix strawberries with baking soda: strawberries are rich in malic acid, which removes stains caused by cigarettes, wine, cola or coffee. Strawberries have many other fantastic healing properties which you can find in my e-book The Healing Berry Guide. This e-book will teach you how to transform your health with berries. Mix the pulp of strawberries with little baking soda and rub the mixture on your teeth. Leave for about 10-20 minutes and brush your teeth thoroughly. Please note – although baking soda whitens the teeth, it can erode the enamel layer, so don’t repeat this treatment more than once to twice a week.

2. Banana or orange peel

Rub the inner side of a banana skin or orange peel on your teeth, wait 10 minutes and brush the teeth well. The vitamins and minerals in the skin, including potassium and bromine, will whiten the teeth.

3. Apple cider vinegar and lemon

Squeeze approximately 1/4 lemon and add 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Dip a brush in the mixture, brush and rinse your mouth well. The mixture can help remove wine, coffee or nicotine stains. Please note – excess acidity could erode the tooth enamel, so don’t repeat this treatments more than once to twice a week.

4. Coal powder

Dip the toothbrush in a container with coal dust, brush and rinse well with lukewarm water. Coal is a material that absorbs chemicals and toxins. It is able to absorb the acid stains, bacteria and plaque, and help whiten the teeth and removing stains.

5. Brush with salt

Dip the toothbrush in powdered salt, brush and rinse well. The salt disinfects and absorbs, and can remove light stains of wine or caffeine.

6. Gargle olive oil or coconut oil

These are antibacterial oils, rich in antioxidants that can help in cleaning, disinfecting and removing light stains from the tooth. Add a few drops to the brush or gurgle for a few minutes, and rinse well. You can also add a little bit of peppermint oil to disinfect.

7. Brush with pomegranate juice

The juice is rich in antioxidants and can help remove stains from the tooth. Dip the brush in natural pomegranate juice, brush and rinse well.

8. Don’t smoke

The nicotine leaves stains on the enamel and discolors the teeth. Avoid smoking or at least reduce the amount of cigarettes.

9. Don’t drink too much citrus juice

Consume citrus juices moderately, such as lemonade or orange juice: they contain pH which could erode the enamel and stain the outer layer of the tooth with the natural color of the juice. Try not to consume more than 2-3 cups per day.

10. Reduce the consumption of dark/staining drinks

Drinking lots of coffee, tea (including green tea and herbal teas), cola or red wine will stain the teeth and leave spots and greyish or yellowish residue on the tooth.

11. Don’t consume too much spices with vivid colors

The intense color of turmeric, curry, paprika and other spices indicates their healthy properties, but they can stain the teeth and therefore you should consume them in moderation.

12. Rinse your mouth with cold or lukewarm water

If you’ve eaten curry chicken, drunk coffee or smoked, rinse your mouth with cold or lukewarm water immediately after. This will help in removing pigments from the saliva and reducing their adherence to the tooth.

Different Parts of Our Body Age at Different Times

WE all accept that getting older is inevitable, and now leading clinicians have revealed the exact age when different body parts start to decline, most alarming being the brain and lungs.
 
French doctors have found that the quality of men's' sperm starts to deteriorate by 35, so that by the time a man is 45 a third of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Here, with the help of leading clinicians, Angela Epstein tells the Daily Mail the ages when different parts of the body start to lose their battle with time.
  BRAIN - Starts ageing at 20
As we get older, the number of nerve cells - or neurons - in the brain decrease. We start with around 100 billion, but in our 20s this number starts to decline. By 40, we could be losing up to 10,000 per day, affecting memory, co-ordination and brain function.
GUT - Starts ageing at 55.
A healthy gut has a good balance between harmful and 'friendly' bacteria. But levels of friendly bacteria in the gut drop significantly after 55, particularly in the large intestine, says Tom MacDonald, professor of immunology at Barts And The London medical school. As a result, we suffer from poor digestion and an increased risk of gut disease. Constipation is more likely as we age, as the flow of digestive juices from the stomach, liver, pancreas and small intestine slows down.
  BREASTS - Start ageing at 35
BY their mid-30s, women's breasts start losing tissue and fat, reducing size and fullness. Sagging starts properly at 40 and the areola(the area surrounding the nipple) can shrink considerably.
BLADDER - Starts ageing at 65
Loss of bladder control is more likely when you hit 65. Women are more vulnerable to bladder problems as, after the menopause, declining estrogen levels make tissues in the urethra - the tube through which urine passes - thinner and weaker, reducing bladder support. Bladder capacity in an older adult generally is about half that of a younger person - about two cups in a 30-year-old and one cup in a 70-year-old....
  LUNGS - Start ageing at 20
Lung capacity slowly starts to decrease from the age of 20. By the age of 40, some people are already experiencing breathlessness. This is partly because the muscles and the rib cage which control breathing stiffen up.
VOICE - Starts ageing at 65
Our voices become quieter and hoarser with age. The soft tissues in the voice box (larynx) weaken, affecting the pitch, loudness and quality of the voice. A woman's voice may become huskier and lower in pitch, whereas a man's might become thinner and higher.
  EYES - Start ageing at 40
Glasses are the norm for many over-40s as failing eyesight kicks in - usually long-sightedness, affecting our ability to see objects up close.
  HEART - Starts ageing at 40
The heart pumps blood less effectively around the body as we get older. This is because blood vessels become less elastic, while arteries can harden or become blocked because of fatty deposits forming on the coronary arteries - caused by eating too much saturated fat. The blood supply to the heart is then reduced, resulting in painful angina. Men over 45 and women over 55 are at greater risk of a heart attack.
  LIVER - Starts ageing at 70
This is the only organ in the body which seems to defy the aging process.
  KIDNEYS - Starts ageing at 50
With kidneys, the number of filtering units (nephrons) that remove waste from the bloodstream starts to reduce in middle age.
  PROSTATE - Starts ageing at 50
The prostate often becomes enlarged with age, leading to problems such as increased need to urinate, says Professor Roger Kirby, director of the Prostate Centre in London . This is known as benign prostatic hyperplasia and affects half of men over 50, but rarely those under 40. It occurs when the prostate absorbs large amounts of the male sex hormone testosterone, which increases the growth of cells in the prostate. A normal prostate is the size of a walnut, but the condition can increase this to the size of a tangerine.
BONES - Start ageing at 35
'Throughout our life, old bone is broken down by cells called osteoclasts and replaced by bone-building cells called osteoblasts - a process called bone turnover,' explains Robert Moots, professor of rheumatology at Aintree University Ho spital in Liverpool . Children's bone growth is rapid - the skeleton takes just two years to renew
itself completely. In adults, this can take ten years. Until our mid-20s, bone density is still increasing. But at 35 bone loss begins as part of the natural ageing process.
  TEETH - Start ageing at 40
As we age, we produce less saliva, which washes away bacteria, so teeth and gums are more vulnerable to decay. Receding gums - when tissue is lost from gums around the teeth - is common in adults over 40.
MUSCLES - Start ageing at 30
Muscle is constantly being built up and broken down, a process which is well balanced in young adults. Ho wever, by the time we're 30, breakdown is greater than buildup, explains Professor Robert Moots. Once adults reach 40, they start to lose between 0.5 and 2 per cent of their muscle each year. Regular exercise can help prevent  this.
  HEARING - Starts ageing mid-50s
More than half of people over 60 lose hearing because of their age, according to the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.
  SKIN - Starts ageing mid-20s
The skin starts to age naturally in your mid-20s.
  TASTE AND SMELL - Start ageing at 60
We start out in life with about 10,000 taste buds scattered on the tongue. This number can halve later in life. After we turn 60, taste and smell gradually decline, partly as a result of the normal ageing process.
  FERTILITY - Starts ageing at 35
Female fertility begins to decline after 35, as the number and quality of eggs in the ovaries start to fall. The lining of the womb may become thinner, making it less likely for a fertilised egg to take, and also creating an environment hostile to sperm.
HAIR - Starts ageing at 30
Male hair loss usually begins in the 30s. Hair is made in tiny pouches just under the skin's surface, known as follices. A hair normally grows from each follicle for about three years, is then shed, and a new hair grows.  Most people will have some grey hair by the age of 35. When we are young, our hair is coloured by the pigments produced by cells in the hair follicle known as melanocytes