TEETH-WHITENING
How Does Whitening Toothpaste Work? Best Whitening Toothpaste Options Maintaining Your Brilliant White Smile
A whiter smile can help enhance your appearance and increase your confidence, but can a whitening toothpaste really make that much of a difference? What exactly does a whitening toothpaste have that other toothpastes don’t, and do they really work?
How Does Whitening Toothpaste Work?
Ever found yourself in the toothpaste aisle staring at all the various whitening toothpaste options and wondered to yourself, “how do these toothpastes whiten?” And which one is best for me?
Whitening toothpastes contain some sort of mild abrasive, as this helps break down plaque and polish your teeth. Baking soda is often used, as is silica, dicalcium phosphate, and several other abrasives. These abrasives are specially formulated to be softer than your enamel to ensure that they don’t wear down your teeth – but gently buff away surface stains caused by plaque buildup to keep your teeth looking bright and beautiful. Most whitening toothpastes excel at two benefits:
- Stain Removal: Stain removal whitens teeth by using physical and chemical actions such as mechanical stain disruption (e.g., from silica) and chemical stain disruption (e.g., from sodium hexametaphosphate). These combined actions help to disrupt and destroy the stain on the surface of the enamel, exposing a cleaner, whiter surface. Several whitening products base their benefits on these types of actions. Many Crest products like Crest 3D White Brilliance contain a dual silica system that is a combination of cleaning silica and a special whitening silica to gently clean and polish teeth for premium whitening.
- Stain prevention: Chemical Stain Prevention is possible through phosphate technologies, such as pyrophosphates and sodium hexametaphosphate. The latter can be found in Crest 3D White Brilliance Teeth Whitening Toothpaste which whiten teeth by removing up to 100% of stains in just 5 days when used twice daily. Any toothpaste that also prevents the formation of tartar (Calculus) is stain preventing, as tartar can contribute to extrinsic stain buildup. Examples of tartar prevention ingredients include pyrophosphate and polyphosphate technologies.
Best Whitening Toothpaste Options
Several whitening toothpastes offer additional benefits, identify which oral care areas you should focus on most to find the best whitening toothpaste for you.
- Our Best All-around Whitening Toothpaste: Crest 3D White Brilliance Teeth Whitening Toothpaste features our most advanced whitening technology. The unique formula also provides 24-hour stain protection, fluoride to fight against cavities, and micro-cleansing teeth whiteners to polish away surface stains.
- Whitening Toothpaste for Enamel Protection: Crest 3D White Professional Enamel Protect Toothpaste contains clinically proven whitening ingredients that also help protect your smile with an enamel-safe formula.
- Whitening Toothpaste for Gum Care: Crest Pro-Health Advanced Gum Restore Whitening Toothpaste features a unique amino acid formula that helps promote healing at the gum line while removing surface stains from teeth.
- Whitening Toothpaste for Bad Breath: Crest 3D White Brilliance Blast Whitening Toothpaste blasts away stains and bacteria that cause bad breath.
Maintaining Your Brilliant White Smile
You’ve turned your teeth several shades whiter, now you want to maintain that brilliant smile. A great way to keep that smile looking its best is with a complete at-home whitening system, like Crest 3D White Brilliance 2 Step Toothpaste. It deep cleans and whitens to reveal a smile that’s 99% as white as a professional polish. Plus, it’s formulated with stannous fluoride to help keep your teeth strong and free of decay.
Want whiter teeth even faster? Consider adding Crest 3DWhitestrips to your oral care routine. The enamel-safe whitening treatment removes years of tough, set-in stains to help you reveal noticeably whiter teeth. The mess-free technology is easy to use and delivers results that can last for 6+ months. Boost your whitening results with the Crest LED Accelerator Light, which rapidly breaks down stains for an even brighter smile, fast.
To further amp up your at-home whitening, switch to an electric toothbrush equipped with Whitening Mode, like the Oral-B iO Series. Its unique technology combines powerful, micro-vibrations with a dentist-inspired round brush head for a professional clean feel every day.
You can also equip an Oral-B Pro or Genius series electric toothbrush with a 3D White Replacement Brush Head for whiter teeth as early as day one! It’s designed with a unique polishing cup that gently removes surface stains while bristles effectively clean away more plaque than a regular manual.
Be sure to maintain a complete oral care routine to keep your teeth healthy and white:
- Brush 2X a Day
- Floss 1X a Day
- Visit Dental Professional 2X a Year
From Crest, the #1 toothpaste and whitening brand in America, and Oral-B, the #1 dentist-recommended toothbrush brand, worldwide.
*P&G calculation based on U.S. reported sales data for the year ending w/o 06/11/22
