Picture perfect
I have a friend who is obsessed with looking ‘perfect,’ she has to have a year-round tan, a minimum 5-days a week of gym sessions, and teeth so bright you can see them from across the room.
She does look good I’ll give her that but what an effort she has to do and give to bring it all together, but if you are willing to put in the work then fair play to you. I, on the other hand, am not that focused or bothered to be honest about being a GQ centerfold image so we get on just fine and not competing to see who is the fittest or brownest.
She never used to look like that though when we were younger, she was scraggly, hair wild and all over the place, and teeth that looked like she could chew your arm clean off. Thankfully her parents were well aware that she could not go on in life with those teeth and got her braces the minute the dentist allowed.
After many years of picture-perfect pearly whites she began noticing magazines and celebrities with great smiles but which had that little bit extra, she figured it out and immediately booked a whitening treatment at our dentist. And the rest is history as they say.
She now has what I call the world’s whitest teeth, similar to that of freshly painted walls, or a brand new ream of paper, and she says she wouldn’t change it for the world.
To see the likes of what I’m referring to take a quick minute and look here at https://www.pinterest.co.uk/lookswoow/hollywood-smiles/ and see that ‘regular’ people can have that Hollywood smile. While I am not against having the treatment and procedure done at all, I also don’t want people I talk with to have to wear sunglasses.
Teeth whitening
I’ve been fortunate enough to have had my teeth whitened and while I was happy with the results, the only downside was that it is one of the lengthiest procedures in dentistry, even the technician stated this so consider this before booking in the time.
So what is teeth whitening, essentially and more simply put it is the process of lightning the current color of your teeth. Our teeth have a top layer of enamel on and as this corrodes away over the years due to harsh foods with high acidity levels, or plaque and tartar build-up and the underlying yellow dentin layer becomes visible and thus gives the stained look.
The procedure
There are plenty of home-made recipes and methods to try out yourself if you are financially unable at the moment to make a professional appointment with the hygienist, but ensure that you have the correct products and that you are aware of any consequences there maybe if something were to go wrong.
You may opt to use baking soda, peroxide, or some rumors of strawberries I’ve heard (still haven’t seen this proven yet) smashed up and brushed onto the teeth with the seeds ‘exfoliating’ the dirt away. No matter your choice of ingredients for experimenting, safety should always be a priority.
Many critics believe that high on the list of priorities when it comes to confidence or self-assurance is about having good teeth, and I can fully support this claim. I too had issues with my smile and teeth and have years of school photos showing no teeth when smiling, then when I could afford it in my adult life I had braces and had them straightened.
It wasn’t so bad that anyone even noticed, or if they did they said nothing, but for me, it was all I could look at in the mirror. You may think it isn’t relevant but there are plenty of people who would beg to differ, let’s take a quick look at some of the top reasons why we think having good teeth is so important.
5 advantages of having a good set of teeth and good hygiene practices.
- This should be everyone’s main concern, I cringe when I speak to people and they seem to not have brushed their teeth for a week and completely unaware of what they are doing to others. Is it so difficult to do a breath check throughout the day? Having sugar-free mints or a travel toothbrush and paste set in your bag is easy enough.
A clean mouth not only smells so much better but the bacteria that builds up from not keeping it clean can affect the look and quality of not only the teeth but your gums too.
- Brushing twice a day prevents the deterioration of the teeth, fewer cavities, as well as preventing diseases and infections in the mouth and gums.
- Cost-effective. A twice a year checkup and deep clean is all you should be paying for, brushing and flossing is a much cheaper and more effective method than spending all your hard-earned cash on something that is easily managed daily.
- All I can say to this is ‘amen.’ When your teeth look good you feel good, you want to smile when you talk, you aren’t trying to hide your teeth when you laugh, and people will notice that strut in your step.
- Health-risks. Studies have shown that heart attacks can occur when bacteria, which live in the mouth and breaks up the food particles, make its way into the bloodstream can increase your chances of having a heart attack or stroke.
Such a simple act of 2-minutes a day can add so much to your life, and prevent unnecessary illnesses, let’s take action people, life is too short to be brought down by a bad tooth day.
Eating your way to a better smile.
The big question on everyone’s minds, is it possible to eat certain foods, some more so than others, and in return get a brighter, whiter smile? There are conflicting ideas and thoughts on this so we will attempt to look into it a bit further.
There has always been the old favorite saying of ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away,’ but this rings true for dentists as well did you know? Apples have a high acid content but rather than destroy the enamel on the teeth as most of us like to think, they naturally contain lots of sugar which balance out any acids in the mouth and neutralizes them. Win-win.
Working our way through the food groups leads us to onions, celery, and even sesame seeds which all contain different elements and components that either help fight against bacteria build-up, eliminate plague build-up, and more importantly scrubs off any tartar that is stubbornly sitting on the teeth surface.
With so many options we have no excuse not to have shinier smiles, adding them together for a delicious dinner, what have you got to lose? To learn and find out more check out these foods for a deeper insight into how planning the next meal with the correct foods can leave you full and with a brighter smile.
You can help the kids not only eat vegetables and fruit, but keep them on their ‘whitening journey’ of their mouths, and they will be none the wiser. Now if it could be just as easy to get them to brush their teeth without a battle that would be great, am I right parents?
Food for thought
The last campaign I seem to be losing the battle with when it comes to my children is whether or not the advertisements and billboards they see advertising sugar free chewing gum is true, and I am still on the fence with this having heard and read both sides.
Yes, the gum does increase saliva production in the mouth which in turn washes away all the harmful bacteria and makes your breath minty fresh, but we all know kids either swallow it(not recommended), or stick it somewhere out of sight only to be found at a later stage when it is rock hard. So, for the moment it is still a resounding no from my side I’m afraid.
To sum it all up
At the end of the day is it too much to ask that our kids eat salmon, cheese and yogurt, or even carrots to keep their pearly whites looking splendid?
Foods rich in vitamins and minerals that won’t have ‘uptight’ onlookers with their noses in the air peering down at you as you ‘negotiate’(yes this has happened a few times in our family) with the offspring to eat at least half the greens on their plates and eventually giving into puppy eyes for a trio of ice cream.
Life certainly knows how to throw us a bone when it wants to, but it all boils down to eating well and brushing twice.
The basics of dental hygiene are fine and simple. Use a brush with bristles that aren’t too hard or too soft, you want to do a thorough clean without scraping the top layer of your gums away, but also not stroke your teeth to sleep with bristles you could brush a baby’s hair with.
Flossing is another factor we tend to leave out of the equation, no toothpick in the world can get to the areas and angles that a line of floss can, and besides, I have yet to come across a toothpick that smells like spearmint, have you?
If yes, please reach out and make all that ‘digging’ have one positive note.
And on this note, make healthy food choices, have regular dental check-ups, and if the world is lacking in smiles, give them one of yours.
