A smile can reveal a lot about a person. You can get a sense of their personality and whether they are shy or outgoing. A smile can also reveal a lot about someone’s age. A younger-looking smile has a natural shine and a cleaner, white tone enamel. Healthy gums can also make a person appear more youthful. However, aging is inevitable. And with it comes stained teeth and other signs that make you look older than you’d like.
While you can’t truly turn back the clock, there are ways you can brighten your teeth and return them to the smile you had in your earlier years. From replacing outdated fillings to using a teeth whitening kit, here are 12 ways to get more youthful teeth and maintain a younger-looking smile.
12 Ways to Get a Younger-Looking Smile
Below are several ways you can get a younger-looking smile. Some dental tips should be followed each and every day, while others can be experimented with to see what works for you. Pick a few to try and talk to your dentist about other cosmetic procedures that might help.
1. Schedule Regular Dental Checkups
First and foremost, make sure to schedule regular checkups with your dentist. Maintaining proper oral hygiene at home and using the following tricks will only get you so far to a younger-looking smile and youthful teeth. But when you visit the dentist, they can not only do a proper cleaning and remove tartar, but also inspect your teeth and gums for other issues like decay and infection that can cause bigger issues.
The American Dental Association (ADA) suggests to visit your dentist twice per year. Although, your personal dentist will be able to advise you best on how often you should visit to maintain a younger-looking smile.
2. Remember to Brush and Floss Daily
The second best step you can take to maintain youthful teeth and a younger-looking smile is remembering to brush and floss daily. Brushing helps to reduce plaque buildup, which can eventually lead to stains and even tooth decay, which really ages a person’s smile.
While everyone knows they should try to brush twice a day, it can be challenging in our busy lives. But if you can stick to a routine, like brushing after breakfast and before bed, as most do, the habit will eventually stick. Flossing is just as important, especially to keep away the risk of gum disease as we get older.
Also, make sure to brush with a soft-bristled head and mildly abrasive toothpaste so as not to damage your enamel, which protects your teeth from stains and dentin from showing.
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3. Limit Acidic and Staining Food and Drinks
Stained, yellowing teeth can make an otherwise youthful smile appear older than it truly is. And one of the top culprits for stained teeth is the food and drinks you consume. If you want a younger-looking smile, make sure to avoid dark and acidic food and drinks that cause such stains.
For instance, dark drinks like tea, coffee and red wine are notorious for stains. But you should also watch out for chocolate and berries, as well as white wine, vinegar-based foods and fruit juices. You can still enjoy these treats, but just take some preventative measures, like using a straw or rinsing your mouth, to keep them from staining.
4. Stop Smoking
Smoking is extremely detrimental to your overall health. Besides giving your teeth stains that take away from your youthful smile, the nicotine and toxic chemicals cause great harm to your gums and increase your risk for gum disease. It can also cause receding gums, which we’ll talk about later.
Smoking can also increase your risk of tooth loss. But since your gums might be sensitive at that point, receiving dental implants is harder and trickier. Overall, missing teeth can make you look older.
5. Smooth Out Lip Wrinkles
One other drawback to smoking? It speeds up your skin’s aging process, contributing to wrinkles such as crow’s feet and brow lines. It can also cause wrinkles around the lips, which can make you appear older.
However, smoking aside, our lips do age naturally and from other factors like the sun and genetics. And if you desire to smooth out wrinkles around your lips to enhance your smile, there are ways to do so, such as using lip-plumping fillers or resurfacing lasers. As a general rule, you should always use sunscreen and an SPF lip balm, too!
6. Choose Your Lipstick Wisely
Speaking of lips, did you know that the lip shade you apply can dramatically affect the color of your teeth? Simply choosing a lipstick color in a cool undertone can offset yellow tones, giving the illusion that your teeth are whiter. As a rule of thumb, you should avoid dark and frosted lip shades or those with a yellow tinge or undertone.
Also, since some lip shades can dry out your lips (causing wrinkles!), stick with a product that offers some kind of hydrating formula or moisturization.
7. Avoid Dated Filling and Restorations
Metal crowns and silver fillings can appear a bit, well…outdated. Even if your teeth are white, these fillings and restorations are doing you no favors. If you have older dental restorations, talk to your dentist about how to replace them.
Today, you can opt for materials like resins, which can match the color of your teeth so they’re hardly noticeable. The old amalgam fillings, especially, can weaken your teeth over time, too, which is one of the reasons they are being phased out. Even metal crowns and traditional dentures have come a long way, being replaced by porcelain fused to metal (PFM) and all-ceramic E-Max crowns and high-quality dentures that prevent a sagging jawline.
8. Realign Your Smile
When you think of braces, young tweens come to mind. But you don’t have to be a tween or young adult to enhance and realign your smile. Youth gifts us with straight teeth (at least, after braces), but as you get older, your teeth can collapse inward, creating a less-than-broad smile that dates them.
However, orthodontia can help straighten out those collapsed, angled or misaligned teeth. And the good news is you don’t have to suffer with a metal mouth that makes you look young (in a bad way). Today, there are lots of options, such as ceramic braces and the well-known Invisalign.
9. Address Receding Gum Lines
Commonly caused by improper hygiene practices, abrasive brushing that works against you and the loss of collagen production, receding gum lines can also make your chompers appear older.
Take care of your gums by swapping out a traditional hard-bristle brush with a sonic toothbrush, giving you just the lighter touch your teeth and gums need. And if your gums have indeed receded, you can get a gum graft procedure to improve your smile as well as protect the roots of your teeth.
10. Maintain a Healthy Bite
Our teeth are only so durable. From what we eat to our habits, we can wear down our teeth over time. So do yourself a favor and try to break some of these habits that wear down enamel and teeth. If you tend to subconsciously chew on objects like a straw or pen, try to kick the habit. Nail-biting falls into this category, too.
Also, try not to grind your teeth. Talk to your dentist about any signs of bruxism, or teeth grinding. Even if you don’t think you’re doing it, you could be grinding your teeth subconsciously at night.
While some wear on your teeth is inevitable, taking extra steps to maintain a healthy bite will help you keep your youthful teeth and younger-looking smile.
11. Consider Veneers
Veneers are another option to maintain your smile. If you have spotting or white spots on your teeth or just aren’t happy with their appearance, veneers can give you the confidence boost you need. Designed in both porcelain and composite resin varieties, they are basically thin covers placed and bonded on your original tooth.
Since veneers are considered a cosmetic dental procedure, it can be costly. In general, porcelain veneers are typically more expensive, but they last longer–around 10-20 years. Composite resin veneers are more affordable, but may only last four to eight years.
Veneers can also take a teeth whitening routine if they ever get less than pearly white. Just be careful and take it slow, making sure your natural teeth don’t appear out of place and discolored by comparison. Generally, most dentists will ask you to whiten your teeth before choosing the veneer shade.
12. Whiten Your Smile
Last, but certainly not least, one of the easiest ways you can achieve a younger-looking smile is by getting whiter teeth! As we’ve pointed out before, yellow and stained teeth can seriously date your smile and make you appear older than you truly are or feel. So one of the best pieces of advice for more youthful teeth is to try an at-home teeth whitening kit.
While there are countless over-the-counter teeth whitening kits available, make sure to find a high-quality product that is sensitivity-free and features more non-abrasive “natural” ingredients! Many of GO SMILE’s teeth whitening products can be used with blue-light technology that accelerates the process, giving you a whiter smile in as little as seven days. Plus, we offer many compact touch-up pens and accessories for those on-the-go moments.
Get a Full Teeth Whitening KitWhiten Your Teeth at Home or on the Go
With these amazing teeth whitening products, you can whiten your teeth in the comfort of your own home.
Blue Light Devices
Bacteria-killing blue light can help you get whiter teeth faster! Pair the Glow on the Go blue light device with whitening toothpaste or a gel for a clear mouth overall, removing the germs that cause plaque build-up and more.
Teeth Whitening Toothpaste and Gels
Not ready to invest in a full teeth whitening kit? Use the GO SMILE Professional teeth whitening gel alongside your favorite toothpaste for an easy teeth whitening solution. Made with an advanced Hyperox™ technology, this gel formula will help you achieve youthful teeth in no time.
GO SMILE also carries a variety of whitening toothpastes, including a foaming toothpaste and luxury toothpaste, that offer a sensitivity-free whitening solution. The foaming toothpaste offers a deep whitening formula consisting of the teeth whitening gel, penetrating beneath the surface stains. And if you’re looking for a quality brand that guarantees a brighter smile faster, look no further! Our foaming toothpaste is 10 times more effective than the leading whitening toothpaste.
With our luxury toothpaste, you can keep your teeth healthy, too. Check out vitamin-enriched toothpaste and its “natural” hydrated silica whitening agent, packed with vitamins A, C and E to help you combat harsh chemicals.
While other whitening toothpastes make your teeth sensitive, GO SMILE products are completely safe and highly effective. Plus, they are clinically proven to whiten with absolutely no sensitivity whatsoever. And rest assured that GO SMILE whitening toothpastes are also ADA-compliant and FDA-approved.
Best-Sellers Kit
Not sure what to try first? Check out our best-sellers kit and receive our most-loved products to find the perfect fit for your youthful teeth. This complete kit comes with portable GO SMILE Stain Erasers to prevent daily stains from setting during the day. Plus, you will get an On The Go Teeth Whitening Pen that penetrates to whiten inside and out. Last, the best-sellers kit comes with our loved Teeth Whitening Gel, a powerful whitening treatment to add to your brushing routine.
Get a Younger-Looking Smile Today!
If you want to appear younger and feel more confident, try these simple cosmetic tips and make better oral hygiene habits. When you take proper care of your teeth, you can keep them from showing signs of age for as long as possible.
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