By Cheryl Ryan

As we approach ditching our masks and flashing our pearly whites around town, I notice that my chompers are looking grayer than I’d like. I hadn’t really kept up on whitening my teeth before COVID but during this year the grey tones seem to have darkened. 

So it’s been surprising to find a wide range of new teeth whitening technologies, especially for sensitive teeth, since my last product search. 

There is GLO (guided light optics) which uses a combination of light and heat trays to accelerate a hydrogen peroxide gel that you apply to the teeth. This one is pretty pricy but highly rated. There are quite a few convenient hydrogen peroxide pens available.  The interesting takeaway for me is that hydrogen peroxide seems to have overtaken baking soda as the preferred teeth cleaning compound.

Teeth Cleaning

When is the last time you really looked at your toothbrush?  It’s actually pretty gross when you think about it.  Brushing off all the day’s food particles then putting it in your drawer.  Do you change yours regularly?  Do you wash it with hot water before putting it in the drawer?  I’m admittedly very lazy at night and know I could do better and, surprise, hydrogen peroxide is in the mix.

It’s probably a perfect time to go through our lipsticks too since we haven’t worn them much this year. Throw out those that you never really liked anyway and don’t forget to check for makeup toxicity. I think I’m even going to get myself a sassy new color for summer.

Do you have any regular teeth cleaning maintenance tricks to share?