Nowadays, most beauty regimens include a dazzling grin. This has resulted in an explosion of tooth whitening mixtures and whitening treatments on the market.
Brushing your teeth with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide are two popular DIY whitening procedures that you will hear about from numerous influencers online and read about in lifestyle publications.
Aside from their exceptional bleaching properties, the remaining concern is if these compounds are safe to use on our teeth. Dr. Ramsey of Build-A-Smile, a reputable cosmetic and teeth whitening dentist in Charlotte, will discuss the risks of using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide on your teeth.
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Baking Soda
Baking soda is a household essential with several applications ranging from baking to cleaning. But did you know that baking soda may also be used to whiten your teeth at home? Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, has been used to whiten teeth for decades because of its abrasive but mild exfoliating capacity, which sloughs away surface stains and cleans teeth.
Sodium bicarbonate is a naturally occurring chemical component that exists as a fine powder and has both anticaries and abrasive qualities. Baking soda’s anticaries prevent tooth decay, while its texture scrapes away plaque and exposes brighter-looking teeth. Baking soda also helps to regulate the pH of the mouth, lowering toxic acids that may destroy enamel. Baking soda cleans and whitens teeth in this manner.
Baking soda is widely available and inexpensive, and can be bought in practically any grocery shop and pharmacy for a few dollars, reducing the cost of whitening treatments to pennies. However, baking soda is ineffective in removing deep-set stains or changing the color of enamel in an instant. While baking soda may help brighten your smile, it frequently requires constant application for lengthy periods of time to generate benefits and is best suited for maintenance between more effective whitening procedures.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is one of those common home substances that everyone has on hand. It’s readily identified by its brown bottle, which stands out amid a sea of comet cleaning powder and rubbing alcohol.
One of the items that we see and utilize often is hydrogen peroxide. Its flexibility makes it useful for a variety of tasks, including cleaning wounds, cleaning furniture, and bleaching hair. Some individuals even use it to whiten their toes. Should you use it to whiten your teeth?
How Does Hydrogen Peroxide Work?
Hydrogen peroxide, often known as H2O2, is a very powerful substance because it oxidizes the moment it comes into contact with air.
While the oxidation process kills bacteria, it also destroys the cell wall and most things it comes into contact with. As a result, hydrogen peroxide is a very aggressive chemical.
Nonetheless, many in-office and at-home treatments employ carbamide peroxide, a peroxide-based chemical, to whiten teeth. Carbamide peroxide whitens teeth by decomposing into hydrogen peroxide and urea, which act as acids to lift stains from the teeth.
“Isn’t acid what creates cavities?” you may be wondering. This has to be bad for your teeth. “I may as well fill my cavities with Coke.” Don’t give up on whitening products just yet.
Most whiteners available at CVS or those we use in the clinic include just around 10% carbamide peroxide. Whiteners containing up to 10% peroxide are recommended by the American Dental Association. Any greater than 10% and you risk ruining your valuable enamel.
5 Recipes to Whiten Teeth with Baking Soda
Using baking soda to whiten is fairly simple. Baking soda can be combined with other household staples to make a variety of formulas to help whiten teeth.
BAKING SODA AND HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide are maybe the most effective tooth whitening agents. Baking soda serves as a physical abrasive to buff away stains and clean teeth, whilst hydrogen peroxide whitens enamel chemically. The end effect is a clean and bright grin.
For good reason, hydrogen peroxide is an active element in the majority of professional whitening solutions. This safe, natural material successfully whitens teeth, significantly improving the tint of enamel. While extremely concentrated hydrogen peroxide gel compositions are only available in professional-grade goods, hydrogen peroxide may be purchased in lesser quantities anywhere you buy food. This colorless liquid, like baking soda, has a range of domestic applications and is great to keep on hand for first-aid needs.
To whiten teeth at home using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, just blend a teaspoon of baking soda with a tiny quantity of hydrogen peroxide until a gritty paste develops. Then, using a soft-bristled toothbrush, clean your teeth as normal. Some people report that following up with conventional toothpaste and a thorough rinse helps to eliminate the baking soda’s remaining grittiness and alkaline taste.
While this approach is successful, regular application is required to notice effects. Most people, for example, do not believe that combining baking soda and hydrogen peroxide significantly whitens teeth. Even so, brushing with this combination twice day may enhance your shade over time. Another disadvantage is that the hydrogen peroxide may bleach towels and clothes, despite the fact that both baking soda and hydrogen peroxide are harmless.
BAKING SODA AND TOOTHPASTE
The simplest approach to include baking soda into your dental hygiene practice is to use it as a toothpaste topper. While most of us brush our teeth with whitening toothpaste, you may still benefit from the additional whitening potential of baking soda by putting it on top of your toothpaste to scrape away at stubborn stains.
Pour a little quantity of baking soda into a shallow basin or plate to add to your toothpaste. After applying a pea-sized quantity of toothpaste to a soft bristle toothbrush, roll it in baking soda to cover it in the fine powder, then brush as normal. This will serve as a supplementary cleaning and whitening treatment to remove stains and clean teeth.
If you want to use baking soda as toothpaste in a more direct fashion, seek for toothpaste that contains baking soda as an active component. This effective-but-gentle formulation is widely available and can be obtained at most pharmacies.
BAKING SODA AND WATER
Looking for a gentle yet effective way to whiten your teeth? Even on sensitive teeth, a baking soda and water combination may help buff out stains with little to no sensitivity. To whiten teeth with baking soda and water, just mix 1 teaspoon baking soda with a little quantity of water until a paste forms, then brush teeth in circular movements, followed by a thorough rinse.
BAKING SODA MOUTHWASH
Baking soda mouthwash has long been used to gently clean, disinfect, and balance the pH balance of the mouth in order to achieve ideal dental health. It’s so effective that several dental hygiene companies now provide baking soda mouth rinse solutions. However, making your own baking soda mouthwash is just as simple.
To make baking soda mouthwash, add 14 teaspoon baking soda, 18 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup warm water, stirring to dissolve the soda and salt. Swish this rinse about in your mouth as ordinary mouthwash, then spit. You may wish to follow up with a simple water rinse.
BAKING SODA AND LEMON JUICE
Baking soda has been shown to successfully remove stains, and lemon has also been shown to effectively whiten teeth. Lemon juice’s acids act to chemically dissolve surface stains, exposing whiter enamel. To make a runny paste using baking soda and lemon juice, combine equal parts lemon juice and baking soda. Brush this paste twice daily to gently remove stains and shine enamel.
Risks of DIY teeth whitening using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide
While baking soda and hydrogen peroxide offer several advantages, they may also pose certain hazards if used excessively. Going beyond the optimal 3.6% concentration of hydrogen peroxide, according to the American Dental Association, may be harmful to your teeth.
Baking soda is also moderately abrasive, which may scrape off sensitive areas of our teeth if used excessively. These chemicals also provide the following risks:
- Gum irritation: Baking soda’s abrasive nature plus the strong acidity of hydrogen peroxide solution may irritate and damage the gums. It is for this reason that dentists put a protective gel or rubber over the gums during a tooth whitening procedure to protect them from high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide.
- Damage to the enamel: Our teeth may seem and feel strong, but they cannot mend themselves. Scratches caused by forceful baking soda brushing may generate microscopic holes on the tooth surface, leading to tooth rot.
The application of extremely concentrated hydrogen peroxide on your teeth for an extended period of time may dissolve minerals from the tooth enamel, exposing the dentin and causing significant tooth sensitivity.
- Affects dental bonding: Composite resin or dental bond restorations on a chipped or broken tooth are not as strong as our natural tooth. If they are scraped with baking soda, they will become more prone to fracture.
- Excessive dental sensitivity is caused by the frequent use of extremely concentrated hydrogen peroxide, which dissolves minerals from the tooth enamel and exposes the inner layer of your teeth, known as dentin.
Though sensitive teeth are a common side effect of professional teeth whitening procedures, the extent of tooth damage in DIY whitening cannot be determined since it is not monitored by a dental practitioner.
Take away
Because the components are readily available, whitening your teeth at home using baking soda is simple. It will, however, only whiten your teeth by abrasion and will not change the color of your teeth unless you use the hydrogen peroxide mixture. Because baking soda is naturally low abrasive, it is entirely safe to whiten with it.