brushing teeth with baking soda
 

does this have any side effects? i really want to try this out but baking soda sounds kinda dodgy.. dont wanna see my teeth in 10 years time rotted away... also how long before i would notice a decent whiteness on my teeth? and should i be using it for only a certain amoung of time? eg 1 week or should i always use it if i want clean white teeth?

thanks :)

I'm doing it now, actually.
Happens pretty quick. Don't like the taste, but definately worth it.

quick being a few days?weeks?

Yep, no negative side effects other than the taste.

Baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide, not particularly pleasant but the fastest god damn dental visits i ever had. In and out - it works.

Also known as Mentadent, which tastes much better.

My dad has been doing this all his life, and still has his teeth (all but one). To me the taste was crap, but I use Mentadent.

within days, it's quite noticable.

you don't want to brush ONLY with baking soda/hydrogen peroxide. You need a fluoride-infused toothpaste as well, which is another argument for mentadent over straight baking soda.

Arm & Hammer makes a "dental baking soda" that's 94% baking soda, with some fluoride and flavor added.

I've never tried it myself but I've heard it's pretty good.

http://www.dentist.net/arm-hammer.asp

they make toothpaste with baking soda now..? does anyone know this? lol, it has a different mint taste but oh well, lets hope my teeth are still intact in a few years

Baking soda was the original poor man's toothpaste. Millions brushed with it for decades back in the early part of the century. When I was a kid, many many moons ago, my dentist even recommended it as a reasonable alternative (we already had fluoridated water, so that was taken care of.)

So baking soda certainly won't hurt your teeth, even over the long run. The Arm and Hammer dental soda, with fluoride, sounds like the ticket. There are still some towns that don't add fluoride to the water, including mine.

For a time I used baking soda/peroxide/salt mixture followed by Act mouthwash. This was when I was a kid and we switched to it cause I kept gettin cavities. I didn't seem to have as much trouble then. Don't really know what made the difference. Could be a number or reasons. Seems to work well. No problems encountered, tastes terrible. But there's much better tasting stuff using that formula or similar on the self now.

Honestly, it tastes awful...but pretty good results, and the taste is gone after rinsing, anyway.

I've noticed my breath smells better for longer when I use toothpaste with bakingsoda (such as mentadent, or some home made stuff mom made once) as opposed to Crest with scope, which was made to keep your breath fresh.

I assume this is because of the alcohol in the scope drying my mouth out. Plus the baking soda being basic making the acid loving bacteria unhappy. I'm no dentist though, just my personal observations and thoughts.