There’s no need to spend hundreds of dollars on professional teeth whitening treatments. There are natural products on the market with ingredients to help maintain a brighter smile that can be used daily. Activated charcoal was on trend a few years ago, but it was messy and can sometimes be a mild abrasive and damage the enamel layer of your teeth, so it's not used much anymore and we stopped stocking it. Instead, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide are the most common ingredients used to naturally whiten teeth at home.

The natural teeth whitening methods for the products we sell in store is to use a natural teeth whitening toothpaste everyday along with your bamboo toothbrush and use a teeth whitening pen as an in home treatment to help with tooth discoloration and surface stains.

Whiten Teeth with Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is a natural and safe bleaching agent. Gem is an Australian natural dental brand whose entire range is around tooth whitening, but they do so much more. Dental health is their #1 priority with ingredients for good bacteria in the mouth and remineralising teeth. Every product in the range contains ingredients for whiter teeth. Their teeth whitening pen uses hydrogen peroxide to brighten your teeth gradually, gently and without irritation. Use it in conjunction with a whitening toothpaste to keep tooth stains to a minimum and give you a whiter smile. This natural bleaching agent won't show instant results, but it will give results with regular use.

How does the teeth whitening pen work?

Simply twist the bottom of the pen until liquid rises to the tip. The manufacturer says you need about 15 twists on the first go to get the liquid moving. Apply a small amount of the liquid that's on the pen tip to your teeth. Avoid getting it on your gums or tongue. Wait around 10 minutes and then rinse. It's best used at night after you have brushed your teeth. Don't eat or drink anything until 30 minutes after using the pen. It's suitable for sensitive teeth.

Whiten Teeth with Baking Soda

Teeth whitening in home requires daily use of whitening toothpaste for a gradual improvement and to not only prevent tooth decay and keep up your regular good oral hygiene, but to remove stains that appear and the gradually make your teeth whiter. Cosmetic dentistry is expensive, so anything you can do at home to your teeth regularly to remove stains is a benefit to your oral health as well as your smile.

Grants have two whitening toothpastes in their range. Both contains baking soda as an active ingredient. It's available in peppermint and a milder spearmint flavour.

Gem uses sodium bicarbonate, another name for baking soda, in their toothpaste, but it's only one of three ingredients in their whitening toothpaste formula to help.

Whiten Teeth with Calcium Carbonate & Silica

Replace your regular toothpaste every time you brush your teeth with Gem and you have three ingredients to help whiten teeth. Calcium Carbonate is a naturally mined mineral that is a mild abrasive to polish teeth and remove tooth discoloration from the surface. Hydrated silica is also in the formula and performs exactly the same role. Follow with the teeth whitening pen from the same brand and you have 4 active ingredients to help you say goodbye to yellow teeth, coffee stained teeth and teeth damaged by acidic foods.

What causes tooth staining?

According to the Australian Dental Association, you can stain teeth with certain food and drink, a natural part of ageing, trauma, some medications and even trauma. Pigments in drinks like tea, coffee and red wine are called chromogens and they attach to the tooth enamel, making it darker. The tar in tobacco also creates yellow teeth.

Age causes the enamel layer of teeth to become thinner and you can see the dentine show through which is yellowish in colour as well. It's also possible that trauma and injury can change the colour because your body reacts by producing more dentine, which is yellow in colour, to protect the dental pulp inside your teeth.

The most important thing here is to recognise whether your stains are on the outside of your teeth, in which case, the natural ways to whiten teeth, including our teeth whitening pens and toothpaste, can help with stain removal. If discolouration is coming from under the enamel from the dentine being more prominent, a trip to your dentist is needed.