It’s no secret that many people emphasize the importance of a healthy smile. In fact, up to 99.7% of people say that an attractive smile is an important personal asset and, according to the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, 74% of adults believe an unattractive smile can hurt them professionally.
If you’re unsure about your smile, you may consider cosmetic teeth whitening to get rid of stains. But whitening toothpaste can help to remove stains without the complication of a cosmetic dental visit.
How does whitening toothpaste work?
Toothpaste for teeth whitening doesn’t actually whiten the natural color of your teeth. Instead, it appears to whiten the teeth slightly by removing surface stains from your enamel. For instance, your tooth enamel can soak up coffee stains like a sponge, which leads to the appearance of yellowing teeth. Whitening toothpaste without fluoride helps to remove these surface stains and lighten stains that go deeper than the tooth’s surface.
But what does a whitening toothpaste contain to remove these stains from your teeth? Typical ingredients of whitening toothpaste include:
- Chemicals such as peroxide that can dissolve and break down your dental stains
- Special abrasives that polish the teeth gently
- Blue covarine, a special chemical that adheres to the surface of the teeth to cancel out yellow color
Are there natural teeth whitening toothpastes?
The chemicals involved in whitening toothpaste ingredients can make many people uneasy to use them. After all, you want to remove stains from your teeth, not add additional stains that hide the original stains.
The good news is that there are many different types of whitening toothpaste, such as Neem toothpaste, which can whiten your teeth without sodium laurel sulfate (SLS), harsh abrasives, fluoride, triclosan, or gluten. Neem toothpaste, and other whitening toothpaste with more natural ingredients, helps to fight plaque and whiten teeth using antioxidant content.
Other natural whitening toothpaste such as Simply Peppermint uses enzymes from papaya and pineapple to help whiten your teeth and remove surface stains without using harsh abrasives or fluoride.