Natural Teeth Whitening Methods Examined
Whitening your teeth regularly helps keep stains from becoming a major problem. While there are a wide variety of whitening solutions available on the market, all-natural methods have become increasingly popular. Do these work or are they just old-wives tales?
Charcoal
As hard as it may be to believe, a wide variety of people are now claiming that charcoal actually whitens teeth. This process involves breaking up tablets of activated charcoal, covering it with water in a bowl, mixing it to a paste, covering your teeth with it, and then rinsing after three minutes of soaking. While it obviously looks like a mess while it's happening, does it work?
According to an author on Bustle.com, it doesn't. She brushed her teeth with activated charcoal every day, took photos, and found that her teeth looked, more or less, the same as they always did. Another online author tried the same experiment, only to achieve the same results.
Oil Pulling
The concept of oil pulling is easy to understand: you simply wash your mouth out with a cooking oil to kill bacteria and eliminate stains on your teeth. It can be performed before or after meals. Oil pulling is relatively simple, requiring:
- Pouring 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil in the mouth
- Swishing it for 5-20 minutes
- Spitting the oil in a trash can
- Rinsing and brushing
This method seems simple enough, but does it actually whiten teeth? While oil pulling appears to kill some bacteria, it's effectiveness for teeth whitening hasn't really been tested. And even people who subscribe to its benefits state that oil swishing can make people feel sick to their stomach.
Turmeric
Turmeric is another surprising item that many people are claiming break stains off of teeth. Many claim that it also helps decrease gum inflammation and decrease gum inflammation. Like charcoal, turmeric will create a severe coloring of your teeth while it's in use, in this case yellow. But does that yellow taint go away or is turmeric another bust?
While turmeric is relatively easy to use (simply brush with 1/8 teaspoon of turmeric powder and let it sit for 3-5 minutes), people testing the method on their own found that turmeric works in a limited way. One found that created a nice temporary polish, but that cleaning up the yellow aftermath she had to clean out of her sink wasn't worth the effort. She also found that turmeric was a little too abrasive for long-term use.
Sadly, it seems that the benefits of these treatments simply don't stand up. However, you can still whiten your teeth, either by cleaning your teeth with cleaning solutions or visiting a professional teeth whitener. They can transform your stained choppers into beautiful pearly whites.
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