HOME REMEDIES For Whitening Teeth

Finally, there are the various and rather dubious home remedies for whitening teeth:

Brushing with lemon juice.

Don't. Lemon juice can lighten the color of your teeth, but only at the expense of your teeth. The juice is acidic. It causes calcium loss. This whitens teeth because calcium gives teeth some of their off-white color. It also means affected teeth are less resistant to decay and cavities. Your teeth might be brighter, but you could have fewer of them.

Brushing with mashed-up strawberries.

Another ill-advised idea. The notion here is that the strawberries' fibrous pulp and seeds act as scrubbers, scraping away nasty plaque and germs. But the fruit's sugars and acids do more harm than good, requiring that you immediately and thoroughly brush with a fluoride toothpaste.

Brushing with baking soda.

This doesn't really whiten teeth — there's no bleaching action — but baking soda can help remove plaque and make teeth shiny because it's abrasive. Use too much baking soda too often, however, and you may damage the enamel of your teeth.

Brushing with wood ash.

Wood ash (presumably retrieved from your fireplace) does whiten teeth because it contains potassium hydroxide, otherwise known as lye. But the ash has to come from a hardwood, such as oak, maple or walnut. Ash from softwoods like pine don't contain enough potassium hydroxide to be effective.

Again, be careful. Wood ash may contain other chemicals and compounds you wouldn't want to put in your mouth. Also there's no way to know how much potassium hydroxide you're actually getting in a dab of wood ash; too much too often can significantly damage your teeth.

source— Scott LaFee-www3.signonsandiego.com