Baking soda is one of the easiest home remedies for whitening your teeth due to the accessibility of the ingredients but how do you do it and does it even work? Could this everyday product really improve the aesthetics of your teeth?
Table of Contents:
4 Different methods to whiten with baking soda.
There are four different ways to use baking soda for whitening and they all require easily accessible ingredients that can be found at your local market or pharmacy.
How to whiten teeth with baking soda and water
Add one teaspoon of baking soda to a small bowl.
Mix in a few drops of water.
Stir until it becomes a paste.
Apply mixture to toothbrush and brush it on your teeth.
Leave the paste on your teeth for 2-3 minutes.
Rinse out thoroughly with water and you're done.
How to whiten your teeth with baking soda and toothpaste
Apply your regular toothpaste to your brush.
Sprinkle some baking soda on the toothpaste.
Brush your teeth as you normally do!
How to whiten your teeth with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide
Add one teaspoon of baking soda to a small bowl.
Mix in half a teaspoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Stir the mixture until it becomes sticky.
Apply the mixture to your teeth with a toothbrush and let it sit for 2 minutes.
Rinse out thoroughly and you're done.
How to whiten your teeth with baking soda and lemon juice
Add a teaspoon of baking soda to a small bowl.
Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into the bowl.
Mix until it becomes a paste.
Apply the past to your teeth and let it sit for 2 minutes.
Rinse your mouth out thoroughly with water.
How long does it take to whiten teeth with baking soda?
You can use any of the above four methods to whiten your teeth at home. It may take as long as two to three weeks for the baking soda to whiten your teeth so you will need to be diligent with the new routine. If you have time, you should strive to use the whitening mixture twice a day, once at night and once in the morning but at least once per day.
You'll also notice the results faster if you avoid staining foods while you're doing this process. That means no tea, coffee, or red wine. A useful guideline is if it can stain your white carpet, it will stain your pearly white enamel as well.
Does baking soda whiten teeth and is it effective?
The baking soda is effective in whitening teeth by mechanical removal of surface stains and plaque to give the appearance of whiter teeth. Unfortunately, it is not effective in actual whitening of the teeth by changing the color of it.
What this means is that it will remove any foreign substances covering your teeth but it won't change the natural underlying color of your tooth. The reason is because baking soda is an effective abrasive but it does not contain any traditional whitening ingredients such as hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide.
Therefore, most of the baking soda mixtures above are ineffective except for the one that contains 3% hydrogen peroxide. That one mixture may potentially help you whiten your teeth because it contains whitening material.
Just so that you are aware, the professional whitening take home kits from your dentist will contain a much higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide, sometimes up to 10%. This means that it will be a much less effective version of a professionally done whitening.
If you wanted alternative ways to do it, check out our how to whiten your teeth guide.
Is it dangerous to whiten teeth with baking soda?
There are only two concerns regarding the safety of whitening teeth with baking soda and it has to do with the abrasiveness of the paste and the whitening ingredient.
Abrasiveness of baking soda
It is perfectly safe to whiten with baking soda because the abrasiveness is only slightly higher than plain water and significantly less than regular toothpaste. Due to the low abrasiveness, it makes it unlikely for it to damage your enamel. In fact, the only way you will cause harm to your teeth is if you brush aggressively with a hard toothbrush but it won't have anything to do with the baking soda.
Whitening ingredient
The hydrogen peroxide which is added to the mixture may be harmful to your enamel if used in a high concentration. Fortunately, your local market will only sell it in a 3% concentration. The professional whitening will use a much higher concentration. It was designed with a low concentration so that you are able to use it on a daily basis so that makes it safe.
Take away
Whitening your teeth at home with baking soda is easy due to the availability of the ingredients. However, it will whiten your teeth only by surface abrasion but will not change the color of your teeth unless you use the hydrogen peroxide mixture. The benefit is that it is perfectly safe to whiten with baking soda due to its innate low abrasive quality.
Nonetheless, if you're not getting the result that you want, you can always try professional KoR whitening with our long island city dentists. That is currently the most effective system on the market. Alternatively you can also use prepackaged whitening toothpaste that already has all the ingredients in it so you don't have to make it yourself.
