Are there any foods or drinks that naturally stain or bleach your teeth white over time as a corollary to things that make your teeth yellow over time?
from cheese_greater@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca on 17 Nov 17:40
https://lemmy.world/post/22135575

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Varyk@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 18:21 next collapse

I have been convinced oil pulling, swishing coconut oil around in your mouth(there’s a few recommended oils) works by people in the real world I know who have done it and it worked for them, although I did it for 3 months and I believe I noticed a small difference but I didn’t keep it up.

as far as regularly consumed food or drinks, no, not that I know of.

cheese_greater@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 18:28 next collapse

No way? Does coconut cream/milk contain a reasonable amount of coconut oil or must it be regular coconut oil to get the benefit?

I drink this shit regularly, like a substantial amount daily

Varyk@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 19:11 collapse

I couldn’t answer about the coconut milk. you mean the thick opaque milk, right, not coconut water?

it’s specifically swishing around the coconut oil for 5 to 15 minutes everyday that people say leaches out the yellow color, but I haven’t heard anything about the cumulative effect of long-term coconut milk drinking.

I’ll add that most YouTube dentists say that oil pulling doesn’t work, but they all specifically mention that it can’t work because there are not enough scientific studies on it, which isn’t a great argument.

and after meeting a few people who have done it and seeing their teeth gradually whiten to movie-star white, plus my own very debatable 1-2 shade whiter after a couple months, I’m convinced that it does work on some level.

especially because the people I know are hippies who would never go to the dentist or whatever, so I doubt they got their teeth whitened artificially.

cheese_greater@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 19:21 collapse

Awesome! This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever learned! Imma start swishing (do we swish or fill the mouth with it?

edit: what if i keep it in my mouth WHILE brushing (coconut oil)?

Varyk@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 19:33 collapse

you don’t have to use a lot, like 1 tbsp is fine, and then you just swish it around.

it’ll be pretty difficult to keep tge oil inside your mouth while brushing, but I don’t see why you can’t try it out, who knows?

since there aren’t a lot of scientific studies, there aren’t a lot of dogmatically proven methods, so you could be the first!

in fact, if it works, tell me, because I am going to start oil pulling again because I was very encouraged by the results and after the first couple times it doesn’t even feel that gross, it’s just a routine thing like brushing your teeth in the morning.

and I was kind of lacking days ago about it, so I think I’m going to do mornings and evenings and just try and really see a difference.

cheese_greater@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 22:58 collapse

Is MCT oil equivalent?

Varyk@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 23:21 collapse

yeah, anecdotally people use all kinds of oils, mct oil among them, coconut oil is just the most popular. I think people like it because it’s so easy to get organic, one ingredient coconut oil for cheap

UnrepentantAlgebra@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 19:02 collapse

How to oil pull: Put about 1 tbsp (15 mL) of oil in your mouth Swish the oil around your mouth for about 15–20 minutes Spit out the oil, then brush your teeth

Hmmm I’ll live with my coffee stained teeth, thanks

Varyk@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 19:03 collapse

for it, it’s not a requirement.

oil pulling is specifically for people who want to whiten their teeth, not for everybody who drinks coffee.

TheFriar@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 19:43 collapse

I also have a friend who oil pulled for her sensitive teeth and told me it worked. Coconut oil also has antibacterial (if I’m remembering correctly) properties that supposedly help fight gum disease. Not positive about that one though

Varyk@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 20:40 collapse

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv-A6rSUM8c

this video convinced me that oil pulling is antimicrobial even though the professed conclusion of the video, as espoused by the dentist working with the YouTuber, is that oil pulling doesn’t work, even though there are less bacteria present after the oil pulling.

before oil pulling: every squiggly purple line inside the empty spaces is a separate spirochete.

<img alt="" src="https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/54181d80-c9ba-444b-aa3f-9e37f5d7226b.png">

I counted well over a dozen spirochetes wiggling around before the oil pulling.

it zooms in on one little corridor near the end of the “before” microscope analysis, and in just that one little corridor, you can plainly see half a dozen spirochetes wiggling together.

after The oil pulling:

<img alt="" src="https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/f5a005b9-d8f5-4062-95e1-6b1dee54c216.png">

there’s very clearly only one in the entire slide, and the dentist mentions this specifically, but says since there are any spirochetes at all, there’s no difference before and after.

after the oil pulling with that on screen, the dentist specifically says “there’s no such thing as one mouse” while examining the patient after oil pulling, so you know he’s looking at one spirochete on screen, and you can also plainly only see one on screen, while before the oil pulling, the dentist videos are full of spirochetes, zoomed in or out.

by what you can count on screen before and after, there are more than 90% fewer bacteria found after the oil pulling, so it seems like oil pulling works for gum disease, at least for this patient.

I’d love to see more studies on this.

or a follow-up to that video.

lurch@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 20:26 next collapse

I suspect some pastries contain unhealthy amounts of sodium bicarbonate (or alike) and they will whiten your teeth, but may also slightly damage them in the long run.

Ephera@lemmy.ml on 17 Nov 20:33 next collapse

Rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which is used in some tooth whitening products.

This is not medical advice to eat tons of it, though. It genuinely attacks your enamel, and swallowing lots of oxalic acid isn’t recommended either.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb#Oxalic_acid

antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 18 Nov 03:40 next collapse

White teeth and a kidney stone.

chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world on 18 Nov 07:50 collapse

You might as well brush your teeth with this stuff:

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/88391d43-11a3-4859-96ad-c46e5f058d9a.jpeg">

(Don’t do this!)

Trigger2_2000@sh.itjust.works on 18 Nov 04:40 collapse

Grapefruit. Probably attacks the enamel some too.

Look at your teeth before (take a picture first actually), Peel a grapefruit into sections and eat them (like an orange). Take after photo and compare.