You finally got your teeth whitened and can’t stop admiring your new smile, but now you worry about how to keep them white. To help you out, here are six tips on maintaining your pearly whites:
- Drink coffee, tea and red wine in moderation: It’s hard to survive without your morning coffee, but to keep your teeth white, you might have to sacrifice a little. Try to cut back on your coffee, tea and red wine intake since they are known to stain teeth, or sip beverages through a straw to avoid direct contact with your teeth. Also, try to brush your teeth immediately after drinking a beverage that causes stains.
- Stop smoking: Tobacco is one product that can stain your teeth the most. If you are thinking of quitting, having a whiter, beautiful smile is one more reason to stop smoking.
- Practice good oral hygiene: Brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing daily can prevent not only stains from building up on your teeth, but also cavities, gum disease and high dental bills.
- Use a whitening toothpaste: You can also keep your teeth white by using a whitening toothpaste one to two times a week. These kinds of toothpastes can have harsh abrasives, so it’s better to not use them everyday.
- Avoid using baking soda: You may have heard that baking soda will whiten teeth, but it can scratch composite resins or porcelain veneers. The scratches can get stained easily, so it’s better to just avoid home treatments that might damage your teeth more than help.
- Get touch-up treatments: Our Zoom! whitening treatments last much longer and give you whiter teeth than most at-home teeth whitening treatments. But you should still get touch-ups every six months or so, especially if you are fond of coffee and red wine.
To get a teeth whitening touch-up or to try out Zoom! teeth whitening for the first time, contact the Lakeway Center for Cosmetic and Family Dentistry today and set-up your appointment.