A Dentist Told Me That These Are the 2 Whitening Toothpastes You Should Be Using

Dotdash Meredith and Yahoo Inc. may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.

Shoppers who “quaff down coffee like water” saw whiter teeth in a week.

<p>Getty Images</p>

Getty Images

Though I would like whiter teeth, I simply cannot handle another step in my self-care routine. It’s not that I’m lazy (well, kind of), it’s that my beauty routine is already overwhelming and in need of some paring down; I just don’t have it in me to spend 20 minutes wearing a whitening LED mouthguard. Thus, I’ve become increasingly interested in trying a whitening toothpaste — work smarter, not harder, right? I reached out to dentist Dr. Michael Wei, DDS, who explained why he approves of two specific ones: Supersmile Professional Whitening Toothpaste and Colgate Optic Teeth Whitening Toothpaste.

There are six ingredients you should generally look for in a whitening toothpaste, he tells InStyle: hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, silica, calcium carbonate, fluoride, and xylitol. The first four ingredients “remove surface stains,” while calcium carbonate offers a bonus of “gently polishing teeth, too.” Fluoride “helps strengthen enamel and protect against cavities,” and xylitol, “helps to reduce plaque and bacteria that can cause tooth discoloration.”

<p>Dermstore</p>

Dermstore

$25

$25

First up is the Supersmile Professional Whitening Toothpaste, “a great option for whitening teeth,” Dr. Wei says. “It contains ingredients that help to remove surface stains and whiten teeth.” The ingredients he’s referring to? Mainly, fluoride and calcium carbonate.

At $25, it’s relatively expensive (for a toothpaste), but more than 3,000 five-star shoppers corroborate Dr. Wei’s recommendation. One reviewer described their teeth as “light brown” because they “smoked cigars for years and would quaff down coffee like water.” But after quitting smoking, drinking less coffee, and using Supersmile’s Toothpaste, they’ve “seen a difference” in one week and stains “gradually” improve with use.

<p>Amazon</p>

Amazon

$13

Packed with hydrogen peroxide, silica, and fluoride, a more affordable option is Colgate’s Optic Teeth Whitening Toothpaste — just $13 for a three-pack. Shoppers are similarly impressed with this toothpaste, given that it has more than 26,000 five-star ratings on Amazon alone.

One of the many very pleased reviewers wrote, “After using [this] for a few months, the dentist noticed my teeth had whitened three shades, compared to a color scheme checkout on file from a couple of years ago.” Another person said their teeth “look better than they have in years” despite drinking a lot of coffee. “If I use a different toothpaste, I can see my teeth getting yellow. I switch back to this stuff and within a couple of days, my teeth are pretty white again,” they added.

Head to Amazon shop Supersmile Professional’s Whitening Toothpaste and Colgate Optic’s Teeth Whitening Toothpaste.

For more InStyle news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on InStyle.