The GOOD:
Baking Soda mixed with water is very safe on your teeth. Contrary to popular belief, baking soda is not very abrasive to use on your teeth, because it is much softer than tooth enamel.
When you rub two hard objects together, the softer object will show damage and the harder one will have almost zero damage. For example, we know that a diamond is harder than glass (diamond has a hardness of 10 on the Mohs Harness Scale and glass has a hardness of 5). If you take the diamond and forcefully rub it against glass, it will scratch the glass, but the diamond will not be damaged.
The Mohs Hardness of tooth enamel is 5. Baking Soda has a Mohs hardness value of 2.5. Tooth enamel is twice as hard as baking soda, therefore baking soda will not cause much damage to your teeth. And because baking soda is harder than most stains, it is effective at removing them.
The BAD:
The main problem with using baking soda mixed with water instead of regular toothpaste is the lack of fluoride. Fluoride makes enamel stronger and helps prevent cavities. And of course, baking soda is harder than gums, which means it may cause gum recession over time.
The UGLY:
There are so many articles and blog posts showing you how to “naturally” whiten your teeth using baking soda with lemon juice, strawberries, apple cider vinegar, or some other acidic ingredient. This is really dangerous information. If you read my blog post “5 things you can do to prevent cavities,” you probably know how acid is directly related to tooth decay. When you mix baking soda with acid, the acid will soften tooth enamel, making it softer than baking soda!! Now this is when baking soda can do a lot of damage to your teeth. EEK!!
In addition, there has never been any scientific studies showing that baking soda may whiten your teeth. It will remove stains, but it will not whiten your teeth. Whitening products containing carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide are scientifically proven to whiten your teeth.
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