Everyone wants an impressive pair of pearly whites.
However, if you've ever tried to brighten your smile with teeth whitening treatments, you probably know these procedures can be painful and expensive.
I once made the mistake of laser-whitening my smile, and afterward, my teeth were so sensitive that anything that came in contact with them, including air, sent me into excruciating pain.
If you're looking for an alternative way to whiten you're teeth that doesn't involve the use of chemical-laden strips of costly bleaching trays, you're in luck.
It turns out you can actually eat your way to a brighter smile.
That's right. There are certain fruits and veggies out there that naturally remove stains and help whiten tooth enamel.
Seriously — who knew eating your fruits and veggies could save you so much money on teeth whitening?
When it comes to eating foods that will keep your pearly whites in pristine condition, there are a few things you want to keep in mind: chewing and saliva production.
Eating fiber-rich fruits and vegetables that require a lot of chewing — like apples, strawberries, watermelon, carrots, broccoli and celery — can all help to brighten your smile.
As you chew the rough flesh of these fruits and veggies, they rub against the surface of your teeth, almost acting like a toothbrush, and get rid of stains.
Eating foods that increase salvia production can also be key to scoring a blindingly white smile.
Salvia acts as a natural cleaning agent for the mouth, so noshing on drool-worthy citrus fruits like lemons, lime, grapefruits and oranges can all crank up your salvia production.
Plus, apples and strawberries are also known to have a high amount of malic acid, which increases saliva and can even help to brighten tooth enamel.
Seriously: Once you try some of the edible teeth whitening remedies, you'll never go back to suffering through another 30-minute session of wearing teeth whitening strips.
Citations: Eating these fruits and vegetables can help whiten your teeth — here's how (Business Insider)
