Nearly everyone wants their teeth to look white in order to have their most perfect smile. However, simply whitening your teeth may not give you the results you want. If you're not flossing your teeth, you could be developing a problem that all the teeth whitening products in the world can't fix. Read on to learn more about this and to learn how you can fix it.

Unsightly Plaque Between Teeth

Tooth whitening agents are designed to whiten teeth, not plaque. If you have plaque or tartar built up between your teeth, there's not much a tooth whitening product can do to hide it. Unfortunately, this means that you could whiten your teeth and have white, gleaming teeth, with a horrifying yellow or brown streak between each tooth. This is particularly apparent in photos, especially if you use the flash.

Plaque and tartar also prevent tooth whiteners from brightening the inside edges of your teeth where the plaque or tartar has accumulated. As a result, it's a better idea to make sure that the plaque or tartar is removed prior to whitening your teeth, or you could still have stains remaining.

Improve Gum Health to Avoid Damage

Another reason why you should floss if you want white teeth is that it helps your gums to withstand the whitening process. Most at-home whitening agents are made with strong chemicals that can leave your gums feeling tender or sore. If you have active gum disease, however, it can do worse than that.

When teeth whitening agents come into contact with inflamed, bleeding, or diseased gums, they can actually damage the sensitive gum tissue. This can be extremely painful and make it harder for you and your dentist to reverse your gum disease, since your gums will have to heal from the tissue damage as well as the infection gum disease has caused.

Maintaining Teeth Whitening

Lastly, you should be flossing after you whiten your teeth, too. While teeth whitening generally lasts for a fairly long time - depending on what you're eating, drinking, and how well you're caring for your teeth - plaque can quickly develop between your teeth without flossing. This means that you'll quickly develop those yellow lines between your teeth. To make matters worse, your teeth's enamel may be slightly softened by the tooth whitening process, making it easier for fresh plaque and tartar to chew its way through your teeth and cause cavities.

Whitening your teeth can be fast and easy, but that doesn't mean you can overlook the space between your teeth or your gums. Floss everyday in order to keep your teeth and gums healthy and to keep the awful yellow or brown lines from developing between your bright, white teeth.