Have you spent some time talking with friends about how you can whiten your discolored smile? Did they encourage you to try your hand at whitening your teeth with a new approach to brushing? While taking care of your smile by brushing your teeth is always important, it’s not going to yield impressive cosmetic changes. It can, however, lead to a disastrous effect on your oral health if you aren’t careful. Remember, professional teeth whitening is always the safest, most effective option when you want an obvious improvement. As for those DIY plans of yours, learn why they’re not a good bet.

Brushing Harder Won’t Help

You may think that you simply aren’t brushing hard enough or perhaps long enough. The truth is, there is absolutely no reason to brush for more than two minutes during your hygiene session. Also, brushing hard is never safe. Nor will it ever yield the same results as teeth whitening. You should only brush with a very gentle application of the toothbrush. Otherwise, you may be setting yourself up for the following:

• Damaged tooth enamel as the result of hard brushing
• Damaged, irritated gum tissue that recedes
• Sensitive, damaged teeth, as the result of worn enamel and gum recession

Whitening Toothpaste Yields Weak Results

Okay, so you know you should brush gently and that you shouldn’t overdo it. As a result, you figure maybe you should just swap out your usual toothpaste for whitening toothpaste! That should work just as well as teeth whitening, right? Not quite. If you use this type of paste, you may notice that your teeth do look the tiniest bit better. However, you cannot address the stains that exist within your teeth and that require professional care for removal.