Author: Lizzie Smith – blog last updated Monday 15th January 2024
Tartar is by far the biggest threat to your teeth and gums. Tartar that’s visible on your enamel (known as supragingival tartar) discolours your teeth. But even worse is the sub-gingival tartar that grows under your gums. This is a source of gum disease and, if neglected, can lead to loose teeth, and even your teeth falling out.
In addition, inflammation in your mouth affects your overall health. For example, scientific research shows that chronic gingivitis can contribute to cardiovascular diseases, amongst other things.
It’s, therefore, prudent to try and prevent tartar as much as you possibly can. And, if necessary, to have it removed. Usually, when a dentist or dental hygienist cleans your teeth, they remove the tartar with a dental hook or ultrasonic device. The more tartar that builds up on your teeth, the more often you’ll have to undergo this treatment to keep your teeth tartar-free.
What can you do to prevent tartar?
Nowadays, many people choose to remove supra-gingival tartar themselves. This keeps your teeth whiter, and there’s less risk of sub-gingival tartar building up, for which you’d need to visit a dental professional.
There are plenty of benefits to preventing tartar. Tartar is nothing more than a calcified form of dental plaque, which is easy to brush off teeth. So, the better you can do that, the less tartar can deposit on your teeth. But how do you actually do that? To help you on your way, we’ve listed 10 of the best remedies for tartar.
Top 10 best remedies for tartar
1.RyttPro Toothpaste Magic Mint
You have to brush your teeth anyway. So why not use a toothpaste that optimally helps you remove dental plaque and prevent tartar? The powerful formula OZ-3X fights harmful bacteria before they can stick to your teeth and form dental plaque. This formula, consisting of stabilised chlorine dioxide, zinc and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), does this effectively whilst respecting your oral flora.
RyttPro Toothpaste Magic Mint contains fluoride to strengthen tooth enamel and has a pleasant fresh mint flavour. In addition, the toothpaste foams thanks to a mild coconut-based foaming agent, not the usual caustic SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate). It doesn’t contain other harmful chemicals such as phthalates, sulfates, parabens or unnecessary flavouring or colouring agents.
2. Rytt Pro Oral Rinse
Using a mouth rinse after brushing your teeth and flossing cleans your mouth more thoroughly and removes the last remnants of dental plaque. As with toothpaste, the ingredients of your mouthwash are also essential. RyttPro Oral Rinse, like the accompanying toothpaste, is based on the highly effective but mouth-friendly formula OZ-3X. And as with the toothpaste, this formula makes short work of the harmful oral bacteria yet leaves the beneficial oral flora intact.
3. Moist-R Whitening Sponge
You can thoroughly remove plaque from your teeth using the Moist-R Whitening Sponge. This innovative tooth cleaner uses the absorption capacity of nano-particles, which form nano-capillary tubes when they come into contact with water. As a result, you can easily remove contaminants such as dental plaque from your teeth. You can even remove tartar and stubborn discolourations from your teeth, but you’ll have to use the Whitening Sponge more intensively.
4. Mara Expert Interdental Brushes
While your toothbrush can keep your tooth enamel and the border between teeth and gums free of plaque, you’ll need different tools for the interdental spaces. These are the areas where plaque can quickly accumulate and tartar can form.
It’s important that the size of your brush is right. A brush that’s too large can damage your gums and the root, and a brush that’s too small won’t clean sufficiently. Mara Expert Interdental brushes are available in 6 different sizes, with brush thicknesses ranging from 0.6 to 1.8 mm and wire thicknesses from 0.4 to 0.8 mm.
5. Mara Expert Flossbows
Another way to clean the interdental spaces is with dental floss. Loose thread can be a lot of fiddling in the mouth, but the Mara Expert Flossbows solve that. The arches contain easy-to-handle dental floss and a toothpick for the more spacious areas. In addition, the floss arches have a handy angle to clean even those hard-to-reach places.
6. Mara Expert Plaque Checker
With the Mara Expert Plaque Checker, you can check whether you’ve brushed away all the plaque. This is actually a fully functioning toothpaste with fluoride, with the added bonus of its plaque-revealing function. The toothpaste colours your teeth blue in the places where dental plaque is still present. This way, you can see exactly where you need to brush better.
7. Moist-R Hydrating Chewing Gum
Moist-R Hydrating Chewing gum is a healthy organic chewing gum with xylitol that protects your teeth, cares for your gums and moisturises your mouth. The high-quality xylitol of North American birch makes it difficult for harmful oral bacteria to attach to the enamel and form dental plaque. In addition, the fresh cool taste stimulates the production of saliva, which also reduces dental plaque.
If you don’t like chewing gum, Moist-R Xylitol tablets for Dry Mouth are an excellent alternative.
8. TonsilFresh Water Floss
With TonsilFresh’s Water Floss, you can thoroughly clean your teeth with a jet of water. This way, you can rinse food residues and dental plaque from hard-to-reach places in your teeth. The TonsilFresh Water Floss works using pressure; you activate the water jet by pressing a button. The Waterfloss works without electricity or batteries, so you can use it in the shower without any problems.
9. Picksters Tooth Stain Remover
This teeth cleaner has a slightly abrasive rubber that polishes the tooth enamel. As a result, less plaque can stick to smooth tooth enamel. And less plaque automatically means less tartar. Piksters Tooth Stain Remover also removes stains and discolourations from your teeth, so they stay nice and white too.
10. Profi Dental Hook
No matter how hard you try to remove plaque, you’ll probably still have some form of tartar. This is because (as well as other factors) of the composition of your saliva.
Many people choose to remove the supra-gingival (the visible tartar) themselves. But to do so safely, you’ll need a sharp eye, a steady hand and the right tools. The Profi Dental Hook is a complete set of two stainless steel dental hooks and a mouth mirror that doesn’t fog up. These instruments are the same ones your dentist uses. However, this set contains different ends – sharp hooks and a rubber tip to clean and massage the gums.
Finally
Tartar is highly detrimental to your teeth, oral health and overall wellbeing. Therefore, it must be removed regularly to prevent gingivitis and other more severe conditions. However, you should be careful when removing tartar yourself and always leave the sub-gingival tartar under your gums to the professional.
Tartar starts in your mouth as dental plaque, so one of the best remedies for tartar is to safely remove this plaque. The amount of plaque you have in your mouth directly affects the amount of tartar that deposits on your teeth. Choose safe, mouth-friendly products, and if you have any problems, always consult your dentist.
Sources
British Dental Association: Myth busters on brushing your teeth
British Dental Journal: Dental calculus – oral health, forensic studies and archaeology: a review