Professional treatments provided at the dental office have a lot of evidence backing them.  Just like most things, there are pros and cons.  Some of the cons being the high cost, the time it takes, the risk of sensitivity and gum tenderness.  All of these things can be addressed by your dentist.  The pros are that these treatments are heavily researched and the effectiveness is known and quite predictable.  Ingredients that will promote cavities and erosion are avoided.

Unfortunately, home remedies are often made by people without any formal dental education who have an unclear understanding of the science behind dental health and dental treatments, and who base their claims on anecdotal evidence (“I had a friend who did this….”).  So often we hear of miracle mixtures that include fruit mixed with something else.  Fruit will always have a component of acidity along with sugar.  This is very important to remember.  Consume your fruit rather than rubbing it onto your teeth.  Making this sort of thing a routine will be detrimental to your dental health.  Remember, sugar is a food source for the bacteria that causes cavities.  Don’t give them any more ammunition than they already have.  Cavities are caused when bacteria eat sugar and produce an acid that dissolves your tooth to make a sticky hole. Don’t help them by throwing in more acidity from mashed up fruit or lemon/lime juice being rubbed on your teeth.  Cavities aside, by routinely rubbing something acidic on your enamel, you will essentially slowly dissolve your most protective and whitest layer of your tooth.  This result is the opposite of what most people intend. The allure of a natural topical is certainly appealing but we must default to science and our understanding how tooth decay and enamel erosion develops.

Baking soda is the most innocent of the home remedies.  Feel free to use this agent as an abrasive to remove surface stains if you have minimal enamel erosion and gum recession.  Confirm with your dentist that you are a good candidate for this type of home remedy.

For white teeth it’s easy, don’t consume anything that stains.  Drinking highly pigmented beverages through a straw is helpful to minimize bathing your teeth in pigment.  Reduce your consumption of acidic foods and beverages to maintain the health of your enamel.  You don’t want that second layer (dentin) to show through because it is yellow-brown.  Don’t get cavities because usually they are discolored and when they are fixed with a filling, the seam of the filling may stain and become visible.  Use fluoridated toothpaste to avoid cavities.  Take fluoride supplements to avoid cavities, but don’t take too many to cause fluorosis (google fluoride supplement dosage schedule) which causes discoloration.  Don’t smoke.  Don’t get really sick as a child requiring antibiotics when your adult tooth enamel is developing as this may result in tetracycline staining.  See, having white teeth is easy.  Talk to your dentist for more information.