Me and My Teeth

Thanks for all of the commiseration about dental work. I must admit that this particular procedure was actually painless –- my dentist gave me a free teeth whitening as a thank you for all the work I and my husband have had recently.

After years of sipping tea, I figured that getting rid of the staining and having a whiter smile might be a good thing. I just didn’t realize (until I had a mouthful of clay for molding the teeth guard) that it meant two weeks sans tea. The problem is that the whitening gel makes teeth more porous, so tea and coffee (or other staining foods) need to be avoided.

If any of you are considering a teeth whitening process, here are a few thoughts from a tea drinkers’ perspective:

• If it’s free, take it! What you get from the dentist is much better than products you find at the grocery or drugstore, but it’s also quite a bit more expensive.
  
  
• If you’re paying anyway, you might want to choose one of the shorter teeth whitening procedures. Some are only 3 or 4 days long, and some are done in-office.
  
  
• Iced tea with a straw is only semi-effective. It’s still really tough to drink without getting any on your teeth, and it just doesn’t taste as good. I tried it once or twice, but in the end it was more frustrating than rewarding.
  

Now, back to getting a batch of photos ready for my next blog post. . .