Everybody likes to sport pearly white teeth and give a 1000 watts smile, yet only a few manage to do that. Have you ever wondered why.

Many of us would have lost the luster in our teeth due to dingy gray and yellow stains. Stains can occur because of age, foods, drinks and even mouthwashes. The happy thing is that even do-it-yourself remedies can help bring back the sheen in your teeth and the results can be enhanced by avoiding all substances that stain  teeth and cause further discolouration.

Here are few tips for whiter teeth and for restoring your brighter smile.

Do it yourself teeth whitening

Most often you can get rid of superficial stains by putting a little effort by yourself. There are a number of teeth whitening products available in the market like kits, strips, toothpastes, and rinses that can easily lighten the stains.

You can also try some old fashioned remedies, products available in medical shops which use mild bleach to brighten yellow teeth and toothpastes which use abrasives and chemicals to remove surface stains. But for deeper stains you will have to visit your dentist.

Tooth whitening kits

Home tooth whitening kits available in the market contain carbamide peroxide, a bleach that can remove surface as well as deep stains. It can also change the natural tooth colour to a brighter one.

If you have coffee stained teeth, a tooth-bleaching kit can help. In some kits you have to apply a peroxide based gel to the tooth with a small brush and in some others the gel is in a tray that moulds to the teeth. The tray has to be worn daily 30 to 45 minutes for a week or more as instructed on the pack.

Whitening strips

Home tooth-whitening strips are thin, virtually invisible and coated with a peroxide- based whitening gel. You can wear them for a few minutes daily or for a week or two. You start seeing the results in a few days and they last for upto a year. The results though may not be as astounding as with a kit. The advantage being that the strips are more handy and easy to use.

Toothpaste & Rinses

Ovre the counter toothpastes, gels and rinses help remove stains from the surface of your teeth and quite effectively. Usually these products contain abrasives, chemicals or polishing agents. But unlike bleaches the colour of the natural colour of the teeth is not changed

Home Remedies

Home remedies like baking soda can be used to gently whitening teeth at home. Foods like celery, apples, pears, and carrots trigger lots of saliva which help in washing away food debris on the teeth. You can chew on sugarless gums for some teeth cleansing and secretion of saliva.

The secretion of all the saliva helps in neutralizing the acid that causes tooth decay and helps keep the teeth hydrated.

Dental Consultation

Teeth whitening may not work if you have lots of dental veneers, bonding, fillings, crowns and bridges. Bleach will also not whiten the manufactured teeth and they will stand out among the newly whitened teeth. In order to match the natural teeth, you have to get some expert dental work done at your dentist’s.

How to prevent stains?

When age catches up with us, the outer layer of the tooth enamel slowly wears away. The underlying layer is naturally yellow and hence the colour of the teeth. Staining of teeth has to be prevented from a young age and drinks and food that discolour teeth, smoking, medications etc has to be avoided. Proper care of whitened teeth is in your hands.