Freshen Up & Whiten Your Teeth With A Natural Dental Strip
Teeth-whitening kits are sometimes a little too expensive and filled with questionable ingredients. You can make your own strips with ingredients that you trust. The following will help you make your own natural, whitening dental strips.
Secrets Behind The Whitening Strips
The effectiveness of many products lies in their ingredients, and this natural strip is no different.
One of the ingredients that you will need is sage. You may know sage as a seasoning, but it also contains powerful halitosis-killing properties. Those halitosis-killing properties are the result of the active ingredients in sage like tannins and rosmarinic acids. These ingredients inhibit the production of bacterial sulfur, which is usually the cause of bad breath.
To help whiten your teeth, you will be using baking soda. The reason baking soda is an effective tooth-whitener is baking soda's abrasive nature. The abrasiveness of baking soda will weaken the bond of any stains on your teeth. Baking soda will also loosen up the adhesive substance that bacteria use to stick to your teeth. And, as your dentist might tell you, untreated bacteria can lead to horrible tartar stains on your teeth.
The last little ingredient to pay attention to is strawberries. Strawberries contain two tooth-whitening agents called malic acid and vitamin C. Vitamin C helps break down any plaque, which can lead to stains. And malic acid has been found to inhibit and destroy the adhesive substances that bacteria use to stick to your teeth.
Be sure to talk to your dentist about these dental strips, since it is related to your oral health. Your dentist should be aware of any changes you make in that department; plus, he or she may have suggestions for you.
How to Make Your Whitening, Dental Strips
You will need the following to make your strips:
- 1 crownless strawberry
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of sage
- Scissors
- Plastic wrap
To make your strips, just follow the steps below:
- Cut 2 pieces of plastic wrap into long strips that can fit around your top and bottom teeth.
- Mash the strawberry in a small bowl, and mix in the baking soda and sage.
- Use a clean toothbrush or your finger to dab your teeth with the mixture.
- Place the strips over your teeth, and let it sit there for at least 5 minutes.
- All you have to do now is rinse your mouth thoroughly to remove any residue, and you are done.
You can make this whitening strip every other week. But you should not need it that often, unless you have tooth-staining habits like smoking. Talk to your dentist about other foods and habits to avoid to keep your smile as white as you can. Remember that the strips will only take care of surface stains. So talk to a dentist (such as one found through http://www.vernonhillsdentist.com) if the strips do not work; your stains may have penetrated the enamel.