Live Q&A With Ask A Hygienist!

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:02]So excited to be here.

[00:00:08]As of this moment, uh I have zero viewers, which means I'm talking to myself, which is not unusual, but uh in the meantime, I will start looking up my next video idea while you guys roll in with your questions.

[00:00:28]Let me bring up my notes here and take a look.

[00:00:38]Oh, there were some questions that I was going to follow up on. We'll see if anybody from the previous session returns so I can follow up on that stuff.

[00:00:48]Um let's see here.

[00:00:56]Guess what I had for breakfast, you guys.

[00:01:00]I haven't had this I'll I'll give you a couple of hints or maybe one hint. I haven't had this in Well, actually, I actually just had this last weekend, but before last weekend, I haven't had this in probably like over a decade, I would say.

[00:01:17]It's a classic childhood meal, if you could call it that. Snack, maybe.

[00:01:27]It was a peanut butter jelly sandwich on sourdough, which is like cheeky peeky.

[00:01:36]Wait, that's not That's not English, guys. That's actually Russian.

[00:01:41]Um Technically, actually, it's not even Russian. I think that's just a made-up slang word that Russians have used, but anyway, hello.

[00:01:54]GMB says, hi back.

[00:01:59]Hopefully, my internet connection is good, guys.

[00:02:02]Uh just a reminder, this is a live Q&A session, so I'm the dental hygienist and I'm here to What's with my hair?

[00:02:11]Here to answer your guys' questions. So, if you have any dental questions, uh this is your time. I'm here for about 30 minutes or so.

[00:02:22]Let me know how I can help you.

[00:02:27]For now, let's see here.

[00:02:31]Just looking at my topics.

[00:02:34]I actually just worked on uh answering the question is gum disease inherited?

[00:02:40]Uh and I'm getting that edited right now.

[00:02:45]Uh couple of other topics that I was thinking about.

[00:02:50]Let's see here.

[00:02:51]I don't know. What do you guys What do you guys uh look up these days about teeth? I'm just curious because I know a lot of information and I don't know what people don't know, I guess.

[00:03:04]So, I have trouble sometimes figuring out what to cover.

[00:03:09]It's a tough world out there.

[00:03:11]YouTube is crazy with all their content and people doing fun entertainment stuff and I'm just trying to answer what toothpaste you should be using or not using.

[00:03:27]Awesome, first question of the day. How do you get rid of tonsil stones? I've actually made a couple of videos on that already, but um if you want to 100% get rid of tonsil stones forever, you have like a one like a one-time just get rid of them forever.

[00:03:48]You have to get rid of your tonsils, which is not something I necessarily recommend.

[00:03:54]But Um If you want to keep your tonsils clean, there are a few things you can do. I've actually struggled with tonsil stones myself.

[00:04:05]And you just have to or at least me for me personally, I have to really stay on top of um Doing sinus rinses.

[00:04:16]Uh Uh taking xylitol.

[00:04:20]I also use chlorella {slash} chlorophyll supplements.

[00:04:26]This is something that really helps to kind of clear the gut, clean clean everything out and minimize All that like bad bacteria that can contribute to tonsil stones. And when I stay on top of that Um Plus Keeping an eye on certain things that might trigger um tonsil stones to accumulate accumulate. For me personally, I've noticed like coffee With milk specifically.

[00:04:56]Actually no, even just black coffee.

[00:04:59]Um certain yeah, certain foods, certain combinations of foods can make it worse.

[00:05:04]So kind of trying to figure that out and staying away from those foods.

[00:05:09]And then just yeah, staying on top of sinus rinses and the chlorella supplement. That has helped me get rid of my tonsil stones.

[00:05:18]Um as long as I stay on top of that.

[00:05:22]Now, I've had some people mention to me before like, oh well, I've had my tonsils removed and I still get tonsil stones.

[00:05:29]You actually have Like four different sets of tonsils in your head and neck region. So if you've Uh Gotten your tonsils removed, you've you possibly actually got something like one of your sets of tonsils removed. There's like the adenoids, the um You know what? I can't even think off the top of my head that all the four like the pharyngeal um But, there's four of them. I know that.

[00:05:59]So, if you've had them removed, but you still get tonsil stones, chances are you didn't get rid of all of your tonsils, which would be overkill anyway, so.

[00:06:09]Hopefully, that answers your question. I know tonsil stones are annoying and really smelly and gross.

[00:06:18]I hate them.

[00:06:19]Why?

[00:06:21]Why?

[00:06:25]Oh, I'm just like scrolling through my notes here, and I found this old note.

[00:06:31]It's called dentistry sucks.

[00:06:33]>> [laughter] >> I'm actually going to be hopefully in the near future working on a book.

[00:06:44]Cuz, you know, I just love to do new things.

[00:06:47]Um But, it's just kind of a book I'm hoping uh that's going to talk about the pitfalls of modern dentistry and how to avoid them.

[00:06:58]I've probably started take writing these notes at like 2:00 in the morning when I usually get my hot ideas.

[00:07:07]Oh my goodness, these notes.

[00:07:12]I'm sorry, guys. Dentistry really does suck. I'm looking at my notes, and it's like, "How do you How can you guys know all of this?" Like, chain dental offices.

[00:07:20]Probably cheaper, but you kind of get what you paid for.

[00:07:25]Insurance. Insurance is a mess. My goodness.

[00:07:30]Uh that's a whole 'nother story.

[00:07:32]See here. Couple more questions.

[00:07:37]Yes, so the question is, is it possible to for for stones to be removed without removing your tonsils. Yes.

[00:07:44]Um you can actually like pick them out like with a Q-tip or your finger. Um it will probably cause you to gag um severely because it's like literally in the back of your throat.

[00:07:59]>> [clears throat] >> I've done it before and I literally have like a coughing gagging fit for 5 minutes straight. Maybe not 5 minutes, but yeah, you can totally like push them out and like kind of squeeze them out.

[00:08:12]But um yeah, if you if you do that and then stay on top of like all those things that I mentioned already, um keeping them preventing more from forming, then that could be good.

[00:08:27]Uh let's see here.

[00:08:33]I want to come back to that eating.

[00:08:35]Oh, here's another idea I had. I don't know if you guys care about this, but I've always wanted to I always seem like the problem with dentistry is nobody actually teaches you guys or us how to brush our teeth, right? How to take care of our teeth in general. So I had this brilliant idea of like going to schools, like public schools, elementary schools >> [clears throat] >> and teaching like the parents {slash} kids how to take care of their teeth cuz who does it, right? Who taught you how to brush your teeth? My parents just shoved a toothbrush in there and they're like, "Here you go. Now do it yourself."

[00:09:13]But unfortunately, schools have not been very receptive, even though I was like, "I'll do it for free."

[00:09:21]We'll see. One of these ideas will stick.

[00:09:25]Yes, if you have a very sensitive gag reflex, that could be a problem. Um maybe just focusing on like doing those things that I already mentioned and seeing if the tonsil stones will like clear away by themselves. I'm not sure if that's possible or I've always been a picker. So, like if I would see something, I would just like pick it out. Um but it's possible I think if you just stay on top of like a good regimen with the sinus rinses and all that stuff that I mentioned.

[00:09:56]Um they they could clear by themselves without you having to like pick and cause a gag reflex.

[00:10:05]>> [clears throat] >> Okay, for real though, what am I going to shoot next video?

[00:10:12]I have no idea, guys.

[00:10:16]Time to go to my YouTube analytics, see what you guys are asking.

[00:10:24]I guess I should go on to my dental channel.

[00:10:29]I have a couple of channels, guys.

[00:10:32]I just love to stay busy.

[00:10:35]And my music channel and my personal blog vlog channel.

[00:10:42]What am I doing? Okay, here we go.

[00:10:49]Let's see here. Next question.

[00:10:59]I don't know if that is a question. I rinsed out my mouth with water after brushing well into adulthood cuz I don't think anyone told me you weren't meant to.

[00:11:10]Um Yes, me too. I rinse my mouth out after brushing. I Maybe I think what you're referring to is like when people say you need a brush but don't rinse.

[00:11:24]Technically, [clears throat] toothpaste works on your teeth um while it's on your teeth. So, that's why they recommend >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me, that you like brush and then leave it on. Just spit, but don't rinse it off so that it stays on your teeth.

[00:11:39]I've always found that to be like weird and gross.

[00:11:42]So, what I would do is I just brush.

[00:11:45]Cuz cuz you brush everything, right? And then you have all this plaque and nasties just like floating in your mouth, and you spit out the saliva excess saliva, but then you still have all this gunk kind of still in there.

[00:11:57]So, I end up just rinsing with water.

[00:11:59]And then, if I need to, I reapply a little bit of toothpaste on a clean finger and like apply it back on my teeth, clean teeth, uh and then just leave it on like that.

[00:12:12]OMG, hello back to you.

[00:12:17]Do I know you?

[00:12:19]Not to sound rude, but I feel like I feel like that was such a passionate hello, like, so good to see you again.

[00:12:28]Okay. Anyway.

[00:12:31]Let me get back to my channel and figure out Mhm, thank you. What I'm doing next.

[00:12:42]I think I was going to cover Man, where did I write I have like sticky notes and um computer notes and notes on my VidIQ, like, here we go.

[00:13:02]I guess floss.

[00:13:06]Floss has forever chemicals. Yeah.

[00:13:08]The plastic floss. That's why I use biodegradable floss.

[00:13:14]Oh, okay.

[00:13:16]All right. No, just love your videos.

[00:13:18]Thank you.

[00:13:22]That makes me feel good. I was actually just thinking about it >> [clears throat] >> earlier this morning, like, I do these live live videos and I'm a small channel so I don't expect like major action or anything but um I was thinking like it would be nice if like during these live sessions I had like at least one person waiting every time and just like supporting me like a YouTube buddy.

[00:13:47]Um I make do I mean when I start these live sessions and there's nobody at the beginning I'm like I'm just talking to myself.

[00:13:58]Which I do all the time anyway so no problems.

[00:14:02]Oop.

[00:14:03]Excuse me table.

[00:14:07]Ooh you got one of those dental tools I know exactly what you're talking about.

[00:14:11]Um I've got one too because I was like years ago supposed to review one.

[00:14:19]Um However unfortunately I don't have a ton of like tartar plaque build-up for me to effectively show you guys and conclude whether or not it works well.

[00:14:33]And I was kind of waiting for that to happen and it never did so I never ended up making a review video on those things but I would say it probably could be a little bit useful if you have some like surface stuff that's really bothering you. However first of all you can definitely damage your gums and your teeth if you don't know what you're doing which just like to clarify as hygienists we get trained for like 2 years clinically how to manipulate instruments within the mouth to not cause damage while removing plaque.

[00:15:11]So most people will I mean it's not it's not rocket science so you know if you kind of get the basics I'm sure you'll be fine but but uh the other thing is if you see stuff on like the top of your teeth and you're trying to remove it, chances are you have a lot of it elsewhere in your mouth that you can't see, even under your gums.

[00:15:35]Uh and so you might be led to believe like, "Oh, perfect. I'll just do this at home and it'll be fine. I never have to go to the dentist."

[00:15:44]And lo and behold, like the rest of your mouth where you can't see is like struggling cuz you're not getting it cleaned properly. Maybe. That's just my thought process on this.

[00:15:57]Um and then it's technically not it's not the same as what we use in a dental office. What we use is like an ultrasonic scaler, which actually vibrates at a very high frequency to help knock off the uh the really hard um calculus {slash} tartar and it uses water to flush everything away. So, I'm not going to say like, "Oh my gosh, don't touch those things. Don't use it."

[00:16:30]I get it. You want to get rid of whatever the little bit, probably on the inside of your bottom teeth is where things usually build up the quickest. Um so I can't really stop you from doing that, but just be careful and know that it doesn't um substitute a thorough professional cleaning if that's what you need.

[00:16:51]Aloha.

[00:16:53]Oh my gosh, I really want to go to Hawaii, guys. Ugh.

[00:16:58]What does it What's it What's it going to take? Take Are you from Hawaii? Are you in Hawaii right now as you're watching this? Because I really want some warm weather. I'm in Washington, guys, like Seattle area and it is it's like bipolar weather season right now.

[00:17:16]Where literally 3 days ago I was at the beach and I got sunburnt. And then the next day it's like cold and windy and like drizzling a little bit. Like do I take out my shorts? Do I put away my sweaters or do I keep my parka? Like what do I do here? I don't know. It's it's a it's our annual bipolar season right now, spring.

[00:17:40]So anyway, some warm weather consistent warm weather would be nice. All right, another question here.

[00:17:47]What?

[00:17:48]Hold on, let me scroll back.

[00:17:50]Water flossing is good as flossing normally. Zigzag retainer.

[00:17:54]Yeah.

[00:17:56]>> [snorts] >> Ooh.

[00:17:57]All right, so bottom line I actually just did a video on um water flossing.

[00:18:06]Uh and the bottom line is water flossing does not replace regular flossing.

[00:18:15]Even the studies even the studies say water flossing could be a helpful alternative in certain situations or not a alternative, excuse me.

[00:18:27]Um like in addition to regular flossing. It just doesn't like the water pressure it doesn't actually remove that layer of it doesn't disrupt the layer of biofilm that's stuck onto our teeth which is very resilient. Um and that's what we need to kind of whoa um disrupt and to prevent that process of plaque build up. So the folks that I've seen who use water flossing alone like exclusively always have this like just quiet little progression of periodontal disease slowly happening. So if you have a retainer I know that makes it super tricky.

[00:19:11]Um Dentists are supposed to take that into consideration and make sure that your teeth are still cleansable with floss even with a retainer. So, I don't know how long ago you had this retainer done or or what, but it might be good to visit a dentist and say like, "Yo, it's very hard to clean between my teeth here."

[00:19:38]Because here's a scary thing.

[00:19:41]It's hard to floss, you end up water flossing. You keep this retainer on for years, eventually you start to experience some gum recession, bone loss, periodontal disease because you can't clean that area properly.

[00:19:55]And then I mean, worst case scenario, years down the road you can even experience like mobile teeth, like wiggly teeth, and I've even had patients had like lost their teeth while wearing a retainer, while having that permanent retainer on there, just because they never were able to clean between their teeth there. So, something to um something to consider. I would I personally would go to a dentist or an orthodontist.

[00:20:27]I don't know if it'd be the same one that applied that retainer in the first place, but I would be like, "Yo, it's really hard to clean this. Can we figure something out so that it's more cleansable?"

[00:20:39]Okay.

[00:20:53]Yeah, the tartar behind the the bottom uh teeth.

[00:20:58]That's the common spot.

[00:21:00]Sorry, that wasn't really a question, I guess.

[00:21:03]Okay, you guys have great questions. Let me just try to read this super fast. You know what I'm saying?

[00:21:19]Yeah, that's the other thing about those tools, those little metal tools that you use to clean things off. There's no um like water cooling it down as in the dental office. So, that's another thing is it warms up really fast and that can cause some damage, too.

[00:21:39]Once a year for professional cleaning.

[00:21:41]That's great.

[00:21:42]Okay, guys.

[00:21:44]I don't know if I should be sharing this, but I actually have gone for like 7 years without going to a dentist before. And my teeth were fine. So, I'm not here to judge you guys if you haven't been to a dentist in a long time. I've done it myself. I hate going to the dentist. I know it's crazy coming from a hygienist, from a dental professional, but I'm here with you guys in all the ways.

[00:22:10]Let's see here.

[00:22:16]Ooh, yes. That's a great um tip, Detective Lazaria.

[00:22:21]Uh swishing after eating and drinking anything other than water, for sure.

[00:22:26]That is something I do as well and I have already trained my toddler, cuz he's not a toddler anymore. He's almost 6. Uh but after any meal, any snack, we always just swish with a little bit of water to get rid of the food and help the pH to restore that much more quickly.

[00:22:46]Um so, so a tip of the day, I guess. Make sure to swish with water. That's going to really help in the long run as well.

[00:22:56]I guess I guess my point about not going to the dentist for 7 years is like yeah, there there are ways to take care of your teeth at home without having to rely on the dentist. Some people unfortunately aren't like I would say genetically predisposed to building up more um and having more issues, but actually funny thing is as I mentioned earlier in this uh in this video in this live chat I'm actually working on a video right now or getting it edited about uh whether gum disease is inherited and I'll give you guys a um like a sneak peek preview.

[00:23:41]Basically, even in the studies, the studies say it's very hard to determine and and like sift through what how much is um like genetics and how much is environment because even like when they followed a person over the years, they noticed like this correlation between the older the person gets, the less genetically like related incidents of periodontal disease and cavities and all that stuff occurs and they're like, well, maybe it's because this person has moved away from their family's environment uh and has started a different lifestyle and stuff, so that's affected them. So I guess my point is even though I said like I haven't been to the dentist in 7 years, but maybe I'm lucky cuz I have genes on my side more probably just yeah, taking good care of the teeth, being really meticulous um with the diet as well um and oral care regimen and stuff like that.

[00:24:52]But anyway see here.

[00:25:00]>> Yeah, so comment here about 12 years no dentist got a lot of build up but no cavities.

[00:25:07]Besides two of my wisdom teeth. Yeah, wisdom teeth kind of suck either way but um Yeah, some people are more predisposed to like cavities and some people are more predisposed to just plaque build up and that depends a lot on like your oral microbiome makeup, salivary composition, all these things which salivary composition can be affected by like your health conditions even like any autoimmune conditions or anything like that and your lifestyle diet um even things like exercise can affect your oral microbiome. So different um different takes, different people can struggle with one or the other or both.

[00:25:56]Um That makes me think of like which one is worse. I would say from my perspective cavities or periodontal disease and I would say periodontal disease actually even though cavities like could hurt and affect your teeth and you think like oh my gosh a cavity.

[00:26:19]Gum disease is it's like a silent killer. Like you don't notice it. Maybe your gums bleed a little or a little bit painful when you're brushing or if you try to floss or something but the problem with gum disease is over time you don't realize it starts to eat away at your bone, the bone that holds your teeth in your mouth and eventually people start to lose their teeth but not only like their mouth is at stake here.

[00:26:51]The bacteria in our mouth from gum disease can travel through the bloodstream and it ends up in places like the heart causing cardiovascular issues. This has been documented, recorded, studied, confirmed. Bacteria from the mouth getting into the heart causing cardiovascular issues.

[00:27:08]Uh and my goodness, guys, same process up into the brain contributing to Alzheimer's.

[00:27:15]Again, studies, links have been made.

[00:27:20]All that. So, it's it's a I think it's a little bit a lot more scary than a cavity because a cavity is like, well, one tooth. I mean don't get me wrong. People who have let cavities slide and turn into a major tooth infection have died from that. So, it's all very serious.

[00:27:37]Um but I guess from a dental hygienist standpoint on the preventive end of things I would say gum disease should be more um what's the word? Taken more seriously.

[00:27:53]Mum mum mum.

[00:28:00]I'm sorry. Autoimmune diseases are the worst.

[00:28:06]Talking about your thyroid thing.

[00:28:09]I'm sorry.

[00:28:11]I wish I had more knowledge about that and had tips on that, but I really that's out of my field, scope of whatever.

[00:28:20]Um mouthwash or xylitol after acidic foods? Xylitol all the way.

[00:28:26]Only xylitol.

[00:28:28]Mouthwash I feel like can be pretty harsh, too. There's a lot of um it's usually it usually includes like essential oils and preservatives and all this weird stuff that can actually lower your pH even more. I guess they're probably have come up with mouthwashes that um like increase your pH or whatever, I don't know, but I would say xylitol um after meals would be more helpful. At least that's what I use.

[00:29:00]Great tip again, Detective Lazario.

[00:29:03]Being careful on the medicine. A lot of medications can cause dry mouth, and dry mouth should also be a symptom to to take very seriously because dry mouth can also contribute to more cavities, more plaque build-up, which can turn into gum disease.

[00:29:20]Um yeah, it can affect even your appetite, your uh yeah, just your salivary composition, all of that. So, if you're taking medications or if you're just experiencing dry mouth for whatever reason, look into that. Um again, xylitol is a great help for me. Um it helps to stimulate saliva flow and kind of which helps to like remineralize teeth and all that, so look into your medications. See if they're causing dry mouth.

[00:29:51]Hm hm hm.

[00:29:54]Routine. Number one, Waterpik. Two, scrape tongue. Three, floss.

[00:29:59]Let me think about that. Waterpik, scrape tongue, floss, brush.

[00:30:04]Should I be doing anything else?

[00:30:06]Let me think about my routine.

[00:30:09]I floss first.

[00:30:13]Given your routine, what I the order I would do it is floss, get everything like get all the big gunk big chunks of gunk out of from between your teeth.

[00:30:25]Then go in with a Waterpik. Floss then Waterpik. Because if you're just water picking, yeah, the way it works in my mind is like you want to physically remove and like wipe off all that stuff. And then you want to flush it out with water.

[00:30:46]Um and then and then scrape the tongue.

[00:30:52]And then once you have a clean foundation, go in with your toothbrush with your toothpaste and brush.

[00:31:00]And then rinse everything out.

[00:31:02]Doing anything else? I mean, that really depends on what you're trying to achieve. Like if you're trying to whiten your teeth, you should incorporate like a whitening routine afterwards or something. But no, in general I would say that looks like a pretty good routine to me. I I personally floss, um scrape my tongue, brush my teeth, and that's it.

[00:31:30]Oh, let's see here.

[00:31:36]Is it realistic to expect to have white teeth going from yellowish teeth? I've gone to a dentist who gave me a custom retainer with some liquid.

[00:31:44]>> [laughter] >> Liquid to put They're sorry.

[00:31:49]Just a typo. I'm making fun of that.

[00:31:51]Sorry. It's so cute though. Liquid to put daily for like 2 weeks. 2 weeks, yeah. That's usually a um about how long it takes to whiten teeth, especially with like professional um whitening solution.

[00:32:04]I've always just gone with like Crest whitening strips, which also has like a 14-day or even a 7-day like more powerful version if I want like results faster. But definitely yellow teeth are the easiest to whiten.

[00:32:21]Um I feel like I've done a video on different color types of colors of teeth.

[00:32:29]Or maybe that was for um >> [snorts] >> I had another idea, guys. I had an idea to create like a a dental course sort of um that very systematically addresses like bad breath um whitening and gum issues.

[00:32:48]Uh and I like set everything up. I think I scripted a bunch of videos and everything just to make it instead of you guys trying to like um pick out the pieces from YouTube and like trying to find videos just have it all in one stop there, but after I set everything up and did like a soft start I didn't really have any takers. So I kind of put that on pause.

[00:33:11]I don't know. I guess people don't want to take care of their teeth that much.

[00:33:15]And it wasn't like $100 or anything. I think it was like 30 bucks for the course.

[00:33:22]Am I just being too greedy?

[00:33:25]I don't know. Anyway, only some improvement like half a shade.

[00:33:29]How long have you been doing it?

[00:33:32]If it's only been like 3 days, just stick with it 2 weeks and you'll start seeing results. Also it depends like, you know, if you're continuing to drink coffee and smoke every single day, you're probably not going to see results.

[00:33:47]Um Thank you. You're welcome. I don't remember for what already, but you're welcome.

[00:33:54]Awesome mouthwash.

[00:33:56]Amazing tip again.

[00:33:59]Um you should just come like work with me here. Some mouthwash have SLS which can cause dry mouth. I haven't heard of SLS in mouthwash causing dry mouth.

[00:34:11]I don't know as first of all I didn't know SLS could contribute to dry mouth.

[00:34:15]Second of all, I know SLS is something in toothpaste um to help it foam up, but yes, it can be either way it's an irritating ingredient. A lot of people struggle um or or what's the word? React to SLS. Um just get like uh sores on their gums and just sensitivity and stuff like that.

[00:34:36]So, an ingredient to watch out for.

[00:34:40]Is xylitol what is in chewing gum?

[00:34:43]A lot of gums have xylitol, yes. A lot of gums also have other sweeteners that I don't I'm not a fan of like aspartame.

[00:34:53]Um That's like the only one I can think of, but I use either Epic brand or Dr. Ellie's um Zellies, I think it's what they're called. But yes, xylitol is in chewing gum.

[00:35:09]Although actually somebody mentioned to me a few days ago I guess that um these all these gums like are made with like a rubber chewing base which here goes my hair again.

[00:35:22]Um rubber chewing base which is like I don't want to be chewing on rubber.

[00:35:26]That's like I don't know, microplastics leaking into my system. So, I've I've heard about like mastic gum. I don't know if you guys have heard of this, but I haven't actually I might have tried one brand that I wasn't really a fan of.

[00:35:40]But anyway, long story short, yes, xylitol can be found in chewing gum.

[00:35:47]I should make a video on a whitening routine.

[00:35:50]Yes.

[00:35:51]Clarify for me like a whitening routine just how I whiten my teeth within my oral care routine or how I keep my teeth white or like actually take a whitening product and show you guys like before and after.

[00:36:07]I'm curious what you have in mind cuz there are a few ways to go about this and I've actually been thinking I know it looks like my teeth are pretty white, actually like spectacularly white in this lighting.

[00:36:18]But like in real life guys, my teeth are a little bit more on the yellow side and I was thinking about maybe touching up whitening cuz I I used whitening in a long time actually, so.

[00:36:30]Anyway.

[00:36:32]Mark mark mark.

[00:36:40]Okay, sorry.

[00:36:42]Um I'm putting peroxide on a Q-tip.

[00:36:49]Ah, painting on on the teeth. I mean hydrogen peroxide is known to um whiten It's a whitening ingredient for sure.

[00:37:01]Um I don't know if it I've never actually tried that myself. I don't know if the composition of just like liquid hydrogen peroxide is going to be enough, but also, it has to like stick onto the teeth, right? So, if you're going to use a Q-tip, you kind of have to like put it on your teeth and just like keep your lips open for I don't know, like 30 minutes or something while you get your teeth whitened. Yeah.

[00:37:33]I mean, if you are on a tight budget and you just want to try it out, I would super encourage you to take a before picture and then, you know, a couple of weeks later after nightly putting a little bit of hydroxy hydroxyapatite hydrogen peroxide um on your teeth and then taking after in in 2 weeks and seeing how that uh how that works out for you. It's an interesting question. I've never tried it myself.

[00:38:06]Okay.

[00:38:07]Is there a toothpaste without SLS?

[00:38:09]Absolutely, there are a lot of toothpastes without SLS.

[00:38:13]Um the one I use right now is a Dr. Jen's brand and it is without SLS. There's a lot of tooth pastes, like um Sorry, like my brain went on a whole rabbit trail, but brands listen to what the public wants. And these days, I feel like people are so aware of, you know, trying to be more natural and and less chemically and preservatives and all that stuff. So, there's a lot of brands out there now that are more conscientious of, like, not having SLS, not having added preservatives and all this stuff. So, uh like one one brand comes to mind, um it's called Zimba.

[00:38:57]Yeah, they're like super clean, I guess.

[00:38:59]Um don't even use fluoride or hydroxyapatite. They just use xylitol and like some other helpful ingredients.

[00:39:07]No SLS, but yes, lots of tooth paste out there without SLS.

[00:39:24]Okay, so you did use the whitening for 2 weeks.

[00:39:28]There was improvement, but then it didn't go from yellow to white.

[00:39:33]Is it possible to reach the white look?

[00:39:36]Oh, that's interesting. Um if they weren't super yellow to begin with, I wonder what the gel was and how you're using it because, I mean, yes, you can absolutely achieve, like, brilliant white teeth. Like, oh my goodness, it's too Like, um Ross from Friends. You guys know what I'm talking about? Did I just like date myself?

[00:39:58]With his like glow-in-the-dark white teeth.

[00:40:01]Um I don't know if teeth are, like, Actually, yes. I think that's totally possible for you to, like, over-whiten your teeth. Um so, I don't know if maybe just the gel composition or the way you were using it um in trays. Have you ever tried whitening strips? Cuz that's like what I've always used and I've had best effect or results with that.

[00:40:27]Because um, it's like literally sticking onto your teeth. It's not going anywhere. Whereas with the trays, you know, sometimes you can it can kind of seep out >> [clears throat] >> and all that. So, I don't know.

[00:40:42]I'm back. What did I miss? Well, you're just going to have to watch everything all over again.

[00:40:47]I don't know what you missed, bro. I didn't even know you left. Where'd you go?

[00:40:52]Just kidding.

[00:40:53]Um, you do that by sleeping in whitening strips. Ooh.

[00:40:59]Yes, that is a possibility, but also like ouch.

[00:41:04]Right? I'm assuming your teeth were pretty sensitive after sleeping with whitening strips overnight.

[00:41:10]You could probably whiten your teeth in like one session that way. I don't think I would recommend that.

[00:41:18]Okay, my friends. I actually um, was anticipating only about half an hour. It has now been 41 minutes and I really do have to go to my next um, event thing. So, I have to pick up my child. My babysitter this morning does not have all day. So, thank you guys so much for your questions. Okay, last one. No, pretty simple by the way. 16% carbamide peroxide. Bye. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a professional grade whitening. I'm not sure.

[00:41:49]I'm not sure.

[00:41:51]I would Yeah, I would maybe tell the dentist you want your money back. I'm just kidding.

[00:41:58]>> [laughter] >> Okay. Thank you guys so much and stay tuned. Again, check out my Instagram.

[00:42:03]It's called Ask a Hygienist as well.

[00:42:05]That is where I will be posting announcements on when I will go live next um, so that you're not just like guessing and showing up randomly.

[00:42:15]Yeah, visit me there, follow me there.

[00:42:18]And then I will see you next time. Take care.

[00:42:22]I'll see your teeth as I like awkwardly try to figure out how to >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Okay, end. Bye.