The Curse of Baking Soda

My teeth are yellow. Because I suffer from tooth sensitivity and a very active gagging reflex, I have shied away from whitening compounds.   But I’d like to make my teeth look more presentable. So I have added a heap of baking soda to my toothpaste for extra cleaning prowess. What harm could that do? I was always told that baking soda was your friend. And my teeth have looked somewhat less yellow over the past six months. However, yesterday, I noticed that two of my front upper teeth have lost some enamel near the gum line. Why hadn’t I noticed this deterioration earlier? It couldn’t have just materialized overnight. After beating myself up for being so unobservant, I tried to figure out what had caused the erosion. I use an electric toothbrush—gently—no abrasion there. My toothpaste was rated low on abrasion as well. The baking soda! It must have been the culprit. After checking with the Internet, I saw the awful truth: a good amount of baking soda scours away tooth enamel. My dentist confirmed my belated diagnosis. Sometimes trying to make things better makes things worse, especially if you are uniformed. Luckily, I have no pain; unfortunately, restoring the enamel will be costly. From now on, I will think twice about relying on home-made remedies—and I will reconsider purchasing dental insurance.