This season’s holiday parties were a great chance to mingle with close friends and acquaintances from your various social circles, but all that red wine and rich food has taken a toll on your teeth. If they could tell a story, it would be a sad one filled with neglect and abuse. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. Your cosmetic cleaning can sparkle and shine through a whole host of events, if you know how to protect it.
Warning: You’ll start to get a lot of attention after you put these tips into motion.
We’ve put together some tips to make sure you stay the envy of everyone at the next gathering, especially when they learn you didn’t just come straight from the dentist. Read on for some simple ways to keep your tooth whitening whiter for longer.
Protect Your Cosmetic Cleaning With These Tips
It can be challenging to maintain a bright white smile, especially when so many foods and beverages can cause stains. But, that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate anything less than a perfect smile. You just need to adjust your routine a little bit to keep your teeth twinkling brightly. Follow these tips to help that white last:
- Choose an electric toothbrush. Because of the way that electric toothbrushes work, they’re pretty good at scrubbing away stains from food and beverages. You can’t completely whiten your teeth with an electric toothbrush, but they’re much better at removing leftover particles of things like red wine, coffee and other staining foods. Make sure to replace the heads every three months, or when the bristles begin to bend for the best results.
- Rinse your mouth with water after eating or drinking. Whether you’re drinking black tea or eating pasta with a marinara sauce, rinsing your mouth out with water will help to protect your teeth from staining. It’s better if you can brush right away, but if you can’t, rinsing is the next best thing. Whatever you can do to move those staining foods off of your teeth is going to help a lot.
- Go raw! Crunchy raw vegetables and fruits are great for your teeth. Not only do they help to remove plaque, they can help polish away surface stains. Head to the closest market and pick up some nuts, raw carrots, apples or cauliflower for daily tooth-friendly snacks. Although they’re not crunchy, strawberries are loaded with malic acid, an enzyme that naturally whitens teeth.
- Make straws chic again. It may feel a little weird at first to drink red wine or coffee out of a straw, but when your teeth are still white and the doubters’ are stained and yellow, you’ll have the last laugh. Drinking from a straw moves the pigments from dark beverages away from your front teeth, making any staining that may occur much less obvious since it’ll be in the very back of your mouth.
- Add a whitening toothpaste. Once or twice a week, touch up your teeth with a whitening toothpaste. You don’t need to use it daily, but a couple times a week will help remove any surface stains that are trying to set in permanently. The rest of the time, use your regular toothpaste as directed.
Your Smile Practically Glows…
Be warned, you’ll start to get a lot of attention after you put these tips into motion. People will stop you in mid sentence and ask you how you’ve managed to keep your teeth so bright that they practically glow. Of course, you’ll tell them that it’s your little secret, and we’ll just keep this blog between us. No one else needs to know how easy it really is to maintain the whitest of smiles, after all.
Come in to see Drs. Krieger and Hur about every six months and we’ll make sure your pearl-white smile stays just as pure as new fallen snow. Call us at 201-560-0606 or send us an email to set up your appointment for your next routine cleaning. We’re just as proud of your gorgeous teeth as you are.
