There is one important part of our body that we cannot hide, neglect, stop to use, or just wait to fix. Its your mouth and teeth, and anyone who must work, study, meet, or travel in public will tell you that keeping your mouth healthy and your teeth white and clean, is a necessity that can never be overlooked and the majority of people will spend many hours a week to guarantee that their teeth are the whitest and their smile is the best. Many of us are so worried about our looks and appearance, that we are constantly looking into mirrors to make sure everything is at its best and that their first impression with their nice white teeth and smile will always be a welcome site for whoever sees them in public. Whether you are a teenager or older, married or single, daters are now more aware of their smile than they ever were before. We are made aware of our teeth in every TV commercial and every book lately, and hardly a day goes by, where you don't read or hear about teeth whitening products sometime during your day.

We stain our teeth daily with everything from fine wines, great foods, cigarette smoking, sodas and candy. Even certain good health foods such as blueberries and raspberries will stain and discolor your teeth a little more everyday and will eventually leave a bluish or reddish tint. Daily brushing doesn't help, and for those of you who are lucky enough to have dentures, you get to put your teeth into a water solution with a teeth whitening tablet and every morning, brand new shiny white glistening teeth like a celebrity. But for those of you who are looking for alternate ways to whiten your teeth, don't try to put these tablets in your mouth unless you want to end up in the hospital.

So, for those of you who aren't fortunate enough to use the tablet method, you must manage to keep your teeth white and bright when daily brushing just doesn't work anymore. The days of monthly dentist checkups, teeth whitening routines outside the home, or many of the local city bleaching services that were a part of our lives before, have been put on the back burner due to the sad economy, time restrictions, or just a general lack of services outside the city limits.

In spite of all this, people are searching the shops and internet for alternative ways to have an attractive celebrity white smile, that they can manage from their home and have resorted to old recipes, grandmas lotions and the creams, along with every gel and solution product that have been developed by the dental products industry in the recent years.

I personally have tried just about every brand of teeth whitener on the market in the past two years. Along with the new whitening toothpaste released onto the public a short while ago, which have a small amount of whitener inside and take a month to see results depending on how bad your teeth are, they usually don't work on heavy stained teeth or cigarette yellowed and stained teeth. You need something stronger.

So, lets take a look at your other choices:

1.) For little to no out of pocket expense, you can mix baking soda and vinegar together like your parents did in the old days. Its gross, it smells, its messy, but it works! But wait, you have other options!

2.) The next step is the over the counter teeth whitening strips and related tools, sold mostly by name brand toothpaste makers and related manufactures These systems range from from an average of $16.00 to $39.00 for a two week supply. You must use then near a source of water, both for cleanup and for rinsing afterwards. They can also have the strips that adhere to your teeth and you leave on while you sleep, or you can have strips on while watching TV or working at home, but not something you'd want to take overnight to someone Else's house, unless you had a private bathroom.

3.) The paste and container systems. This usually requires squeezing paste or powder from their container, mixing with water and applying to a plastic mouth piece for a certain period of time. The gel paste thickens up and sits inside the plastic mouth trays. Again, must be done at home usually.Can be messy at times.

4.) Paint on whitening creams. These usually come in small vials with a brush tip applicator. There is about a weeks worth of whitener in each vial and they dry out quickly. They require that the teeth be completely clean and dry, then each tooth is covered with this paste which then hardens a little. (like white glue) and you can keep this on until you desire, but at least an hour. Rinses easily with toothbrush, no bad tastes, but a little messy inside your mouth.

5.) Finally, we have the bleaching, whitener Gel pens. These are my favorite. I still use them daily, as my work takes me on the road and I meet many people every day. I need my teeth to be their whitest. They are the same size as a writing pen or makeup applicator bottle, fit easily inside your pocket or purse and can be conveniently taken with you. This product contains a stick of whitening compound gel that gets applies to your teeth individually. Similar to a pencil eraser head, only wetter, and allows to apply to your teeth in almost any environment, without mixing of supplies, water, or making a mess. It both cleans and whitens as you use them. You can conceal these until you need them. You can use them in restrooms, at your next gathering, or even while at a restaurant or club. No one knows what you are doing and you really don't even need a mirror to see what you are doing. All in all, one of the better products and most convenient of all the mentioned products

Most companies will allow you 1-2 weeks for a free trial to see if you like them. There is one marketing gal on the web taking advantage of these free trail offers, and tells you to order all the products each for a week apart, use for a week, then send them all back. At the end of four weeks, you'll have perfect white teeth again and it only cost you for shipping and handling. I imagine you could do this with any product that you order from the web, but what about after the four week trial? We all know that it won't be long until the yellow teeth stains or discolored teeth will start to appear again, so you will need something in the house and if you're talking about convenience, then the gel pens are the way to go. If you want to see more about the teeth whitening gel pens, see my resource box. I hope I have explained your options to you and it will make it easier for you to decide which is best for you. Here's to a nice smile and whiter teeth this year.