Just like television actors and movie stars most of us would love to have pearly white teeth but over the years due to smoking, diet and sometimes illness our teeth quite often change and turn gray, brown and yellow in color.

In fact, some peoples' teeth are naturally discolored and even though many teeth whitening methods work really well on yellow teeth, quite a few folk try to make teeth whiter when they are gray or brown too.

Rubbing strawberries on your teeth before you brush them is known to be a home remedy as far as whitening your teeth is concerned. However, it is possible to buy kits from drug and grocery stores or from your dentist too if you want to have a go at making your teeth whiter yourself.

The dentist should be your first port of call if you want to whiten your teeth. As well as the regular clean your dentist gives your teeth to keep them healthy, he or she will also be able to make some suggestions about methods you can use yourself.

The first thing the dentist is likely to tell you is that you should floss on a daily basis and use a soft bristled brush to clean your teeth regularly, usually following a meal or snack.

Your dentist will inform you about the bleaching and laser treatments that can be performed and advice will be given about how to use tray based home bleaching, gels and strips to bleach your teeth and all manner of stain removing methods, for example, whitening toothpaste.

Some of these methods only remove the surface stains which may have built up as a layer over top of your teeth, while other methods change the actual color of your teeth by over 3 shades. Either will improve the color of your natural teeth.

If you have had fillings, crowns and caps in the past, they were probably matched up to the color of your teeth at the time of the treatment. For this reason you may need to think about having a porcelain veneer placed on your teeth in order to give them a fresh new appearance in color.

You need to bear in mind that your teeth and gums still need to be taken good care of so spend a little time finding out about the various kinds of whitening methods and making sure they are safe for your teeth.

While treatments from the dentist (except for some laser whitening) are usually approved by the dental association, they can be much more expensive than over the counter treatments. Dental treatments can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, whereas over the counter treatments generally stay under $100.

When taking into account whether or not to do it yourself or accept the services of your dentist you should also think about the time involved with the treatment. There is no magic formula for immediate white teeth but it has to be said that the treatments given by dentists work quicker and will last longer than the methods you can carry out yourself.

The method you choose to make your teeth whiter should be based on tooth safety, as well as on what caused the discoloration of your teeth.