It has been said plenty of times that the best accessory that anyone can wear is their smile. There is some truth to this because a smile makes you look friendly, approachable, young, and attractive. Smiling can also improve your mood since the brain can only process one emotion. While flashing their pearly whites is not an issue to most people, it can be quite stressful for some, especially those who have tartar on their teeth.
What is tartar?
Tartar is what happens when you don’t brush your teeth regularly. When you go for hours or days without brushing your teeth, bacteria begins to accumulate in your mouth. This causes plaque- a soft and sticky film that’s loaded with bacteria, which then causes gum disease and tooth decay when not removed through regular brushing and flossing. When the plaque hardens on the teeth’s surface, it forms a yellow and brown deposit located at or slightly below the gumline. This deposit is called tartar.
When tartar accumulates, it causes an inflammation of the gum tissue which can be severely painful. The gum swelling makes it difficult to eat, or speak. In the world of medicine, this condition is called Gingivitis and its top two symptoms are gum inflammation and bleeding. Gingivitis can be cured with medicine, proper oral hygiene, treatments, and home remedies but when these are not done at the soonest possible time, the condition can develop into periodontitis.
This leads us to the question: what is periodontitis?
Periodontitis is far more complicated than gingivitis. It’s a condition where the tissue surrounding the tooth is inflamed, which then causes the gums to shrink and the teeth to loosen. The worst case scenario for periodontitis is tooth loss which makes things a lot worse because we all know how expensive dentures are these days.
All hope is not lost because tartar formation is preventable. The solution is quite simple: you just have to floss and brush your teeth after each meal. This is easy for those who work at home because they have easy access to their trusty toothbrush. However, this raises a concern for those who have busy schedules and are spend most of their time outside the house. Some people bring their toothbrushes with them to school or to their office so they can maintain good oral hygiene. Others, however, end up brushing their teeth twice or once a day.
The immediate solution for people tartar buildup is to go to the dentist. After all, dentists are experts when it comes to treating issues like this. Dental care these days are quite expensive and a lot of people would rather deal with the pain than spend money that’s out of their budget. There are also people who avoid going to the dentist because for some reason, they are afraid of dentists. Not getting immediate dental treatment leads to more complicated dental problems that require more expensive treatments which could have been avoided in the first place. Fortunately, there are home remedies with organic ingredients that can help get rid of tartar and keep your teeth healthy.
There are plenty of natural remedies to get rid of tartar but for this article, we will be putting the spotlight on one ingredient: nutshells.
More often than not, nutshells are thrown away because people think they can’t be used for anything. Contrary to what a lot of people know, these nutshells are actually packed with healthy compounds and nutrients that are beneficial to the body. They’ve been used in different remedies to treat various health conditions for centuries. It’s actually surprising that people only learned about the benefits of nutshells recently.
Nutshells contain the following properties:
- Anti-fungal
- Diuretic
- Antibacterial
- Gastro-intestinal
- Antiseptic
- Thyroid stimulant
- Anti-allergic
- Vermifuge
- Healing
- Emollient
- Anti-inflammatory
- Hypotensive
- Soothing
Nutshells are non-toxic and can be taken directly, blended into a tea, or crushed into fine powder. It doesn’t matter what the form is, the nutritional benefits are still the same. The properties and nutrients present in nutshells make it the most effective remedy for tartar removal.
To prepare the nutshell tartar treatment, you will need:
- A cup of water
- Forty grams of nutshells
Here’s how:
- Fill a pot with water.
- Add the nutshells.
- Put the pot on a stove and boil the nutshell mixture for about twenty minutes.
- After boiling, set the pot aside and let it cool for a while.
- Strain the nutshells while pouring the mixture in a clean bowl.
- Put your toothbrush in the nutshell mixture.
- Gently brush your teeth for about five minutes.
- Do this remedy thrice a day. The plaque will disappear in one or two weeks.
Take note, however, that the nutshell remedy is preventive but not curative. It’ll take a while for the nutshells to remove the tartar so you have to be patient.
