The White Tooth Effect

A white smile is a healthy smile, or so everyone seems to assume. It’s true enough that if your teeth are significantly yellow, brown, or green, then it’s likely you’re doing something wrong in regards to your dental hygiene. However, while a certain amount of yellow discoloration is natural, it’s fairly common to run into people with even higher standards than that, especially among the upper class and those in show business.

People have obsessed over their teeth ever since they first had them. Archaeologists have found bones with cavity-stricken teeth and jaws with the sort of wasted gum line which proves that the owner had had teeth removed while he or she was still alive. Tooth removal wasn’t all they were up to, however: whitening teeth has a similarly old history.

• The Ancient Egyptians created a whitening agent out of ground pumice and white vinegar. The pumice would scrape the surface of the teeth and the acid would eat it away, and while this effectively whitened a person’s teeth by removing the top layer of enamel, it also accelerated tooth decay.
• The Ancient Romans washed their mouths with a different fluid: urine. The taste left something to be desired, but the ammonia in urine was effective both at killing bacteria and at whitening teeth.
• In the 17th and 18th centuries, a time when a barber equipped with a pair of pliers could double as a dentist, they would often return to the Egyptian method of tooth whitening by filing down the enamel directly and then washing it with an acid.
• The modern era of chemical stain removers and whiteners began in the 1980s with hydrogen peroxide, which also has the effect of strengthening your gums. Various other chemicals have been added to the mix over the past several decades, and while you can find tooth whitening strips stacked next to special whitening toothpaste at your local drug store, for the most dramatic effect possible you’re still best off visiting a dentist and getting a professional treatment.

Yellowed teeth are not necessarily a sign of poor dental health, because even under the best conditions stains will tend to slowly build up. Coffee, colas, and smoking are leading causes of stained teeth, but even if you abstain from all of the above your white teeth won’t stay white forever. For that reason, if pearly white teeth are important to you, then it’s important that you take regular steps to whiten your teeth both through regular oral hygiene and regular trips to your dental hygienist.