The pearly white smile. It is the essential Hollywood accessory and the goal of many an image conscious man or woman. You can bleach teeth, or have they whitened by lasers and lamps in the dentist’s office but all of that can be an expensive and time consuming exercise. With everyone tightening their budget these days is there any way to whiten teeth without bleaching or chemical whitening?

Teeth become discolored for a myriad of different reasons. Genetics can play a part in the natural shade of your teeth and there is of course very little one can do about that. Add to that the damage caused by sugary sodas, coffee tea and red wine and teeth can end up looking very dingy indeed. Smoking is terrible for the teeth, leaving the same yellow film on tooth enamel as it does on the fingers of those who still insist on lighting up.

So what are some affordable ways to brighten one’s smile? The first step is of course to avoid the previously mentioned culprits as much as possible, and if you must indulge (most people need that cup of coffee to get going in the morning) brush your teeth as soon as possible after indulging. Careful brushing is essential to over good dental health of course, not just the color of your teeth.

Using baking soda can be quite effective for lifting surface stains from teeth. If you are brave you can do it the old fashioned way, adding straight baking soda to your toothbrush and then brushing as usual. For those who cannot stand the tastes there are a number of toothpastes on the market that are formulated with baking soda that are an alternative.

In addition to baking soda there are a number of natural tooth whiteners that some people swear by for keeping their teeth pearly white. When rubbed on teeth daily some people find that fresh strawberries can be effective for removing stains and whitening the teeth a few shades while others have had success with a combination of pure lemon juice and salt (although the taste can be very hard to swallow).

Another effective but again not necessarily pleasant tasting natural tooth whitening trick is to rinse with apple cider vinegar after regular brushing. There are also a number of commercially available whitening tooth rinses on the shelves these days that have many of the same benefits but are a little more pleasant to the taste buds.