Listening and Reading Practice - The English Like a Native Podcast

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the

English Like a Native podcast.

I'm your host, Anna, and today we are talking about teeth whitening - ching.

Now for those of you who are watching the video, I'm smiling right now.

I am doing a big toothy smile, showing my teeth when I smile.

I'm baring my teeth.

Why?

Well, you might notice that my teeth are quite white and that's because I've

been doing some home teeth whitening.

So teeth whitening is a cosmetic procedure, but I'm covering it today

because there are some very interesting words and phrases that come up when

talking about teeth in general.

And hopefully everyone listening has teeth, or at least everyone

had teeth at some point, even if you don't have any anymore.

And we all, hopefully, brush our teeth and deal with our

teeth a couple of times per day.

So this is going to be an interesting lesson for everyone, particularly

those who are learning English, which is what this podcast is for,

it's to help you to improve your English and expand your vocabulary.

So first of all, with teeth whitening, why do we do it?

Well, I think the single answer to that is because we want our teeth to look nice.

We have this idea that straight white teeth is something we should strive for.

It's like it...

this is the gold standard of teeth.

A perfect, flawless smile with straight, very white teeth.

In the UK we often call this a Hollywood smile, and that's because many actors

who become successful Hollywood actors all have very straight, very white teeth.

And there are some celebrities who famously had quite crooked, yellowed

teeth who later in their career actually went and got the Hollywood smile.

David Bowie is the first one that comes to mind.

And so I guess you could call it vanity, but I do want to talk

about that a little bit later on.

So it's all about appearance.

That's the only reason really, you would have your teeth whitened.

But you do have to consider.

Why are your teeth yellow?

Your teeth have an outer layer called enamel.

You'll find that a lot of toothpaste brands offer to

strengthen and repair your enamel.

Your enamel is very important.

It's the shield to your teeth, and once the enamel wears away or becomes damaged,

then it could mean that your teeth are exposed to infection, to rotting.

You know, and the thing is, with enamel, it's very white.

When it's thick, it's white.

However, the layer underneath is called dentine, and this is not white.

This is yellow.

In some cases, our teeth are yellow because our enamel has thinned, either

through age, because that happens naturally as part of the aging process

or because of a high acidic diet.

And that could be acidic drinks as well as acidic food.

So you are enamel thins and it starts to show the dentine underneath, so the

colour moves from white into yellow.

So that's one reason why your teeth could be yellow.

In this case teeth whitening will not work because the problem is thin or no enamel.

In many cases, especially in younger people, yellow teeth is simply staining,

especially those of us who have a very heavy tea or coffee addiction.

Or those of us who eat lots of staining foods like curries, you know, that

can make your teeth quite yellow.

I went through a period of eating a lot of turmeric, and it's got

really great benefits, especially the anti-inflammatory effect that it has.

Inflammation in the body is one of most serious issues that we mostly

ignore, but it can cause joint problems.

It can cause all sorts of health issues.

So bringing down inflammation in a natural way is a great way to

boost your health span, to make you live longer and feel fantastic.

Turmeric.

Turmeric.

I never, I'm always mispronouncing that word.

I wanna say turmeric, but I think it's turmeric.

Uh, yes, I teach pronunciation, but some words, some words escape me,

and turmeric is one of those that I just find a little bit tricky.

So, turmeric, turmeric.

Turmeric is one of those foods that naturally reduces inflammation.

However, why am I talking about it?

It's really staining.

I remember, and this was maybe seven years ago, six, seven years ago,

I was about to do a live stream on video and I was wolfing down a salad.

To wolf something down is to eat it very quickly, as if you are ravenously hungry.

I was wolfing down my salad because I only had a few minutes before my, my stream

and I'd put some raw, fresh turmeric in...

turmeric?

Turmeric?

I must look this up.

In fact, I'm gonna do it right now.

So I'd put this fresh stuff, raw stuff in my salad.

I'm just looking on my phone.

I'm looking on Google for tur...

Turmeric.

I ate this salad and I started the video.

"Hi guys" opening my mouth really wide.

"How is everyone?

Today we are doing a live stream", and as I caught sight of myself in the

camera, I was horrified because I had a really, really yellowy orange tongue and

stained teeth from this, from this tur.

"Turmeric" Turmeric.

There we go.

I will remember now.

Tur...mer...ic, turmeric, tur.

Okay, so this is a trick that I actually advise everyone to use.

You take the correct pronunciation of something and you try to attach

it to a word that sounds similar.

So I say turmeric as my mispronunciation of this word.

The correct pronunciation is turmeric.

So I'm going to take that initial vowel, ur, tur, tur, tur, and think of

a word that starts with those sounds.

Tur, turn.

So I'm going to think about turning the turmeric round.

Turn the turmeric, turn the turmeric, turn the turmeric.

I'm twisting my finger here, guys, with that physicalisation and that

repetition of turn the turmeric.

Turn the turmeric.

Every time now I want to say the word turmeric, I'm gonna turn my finger.

I'm gonna think about turning and that will give me the right

lead into the pronunciation.

So I ate raw turmeric and, I'm twisting my finger every time I say

this now, I ate raw turmeric, and yes, my livestream was just hilarious

with me speaking with a very orange, bright orange mouth and teeth.

So I learnt my lesson, and now I, I rarely eat turmeric.

Oh, that's worked.

Okay, so staining is the main reason that people have teeth that are

not so white, and this doesn't have to be solved with teeth whitening.

You can remove a lot of staining at home using a more abrasive toothpaste.

And you can also, and you should, every six months or so, go to have a proper,

what we call a hygiene clean at your dental surgery or go and see a hygienist.

Make sure you see a good hygienist pay good money to go and have a

hygiene clean every six months.

And it helps to keep your teeth in tip top condition.

And it's not just your teeth, it's your gums as well.

That makes a big difference.

I started to get a little bit self-conscious recently because my front

teeth had started to, about halfway down, really show signs of staining

in a way that I've never seen before.

And one of them in particular started to look like it was going translucent.

Which means see-through.

Like, I could see, if I put my tongue on my finger behind the tooth, I could see

the pink of my finger through the tooth.

So my tooth was becoming see through, which is a sign of

your, the mineralisation in your enamel breaking down.

So your enamel thinning, which is at 41 years old, thin enamel is not something

I was expecting to, to have to deal with.

So I went to my dentist and I said, I'm concerned about this.

And they said, I think the majority of your concern is just staining.

I think it could be solved when you go and have your hygiene clean.

And sure enough, I went to see the . Hygienist and who

it made a huge difference.

I was really surprised, even though I was actually using an abrasive

toothpaste occasionally at home.

But I have picked up a nasty coffee habit lately.

Coffee with coconut milk.

Oh, I love it.

And this alongside my tea habit has caused this, this rapid staining of my teeth.

So the hygienist sorted that out for me.

And then I started using, like a remineralising toothpaste.

I think it was Sensodyne mineral boost toothpaste.

I was using that on a regular basis and I upped the amount of calcium rich

foods and drink that I was having in my diet to help try and replace any

of the minerals that I was losing.

And so those are the things you can do, the steps that you can take.

Now I'm doing teeth whitening, even though I was happy with my hygiene clean, I'm

doing teeth whitening simply because I was offered a free take home kit as part of my

membership to my private dental surgery.

So with the membership, they said you can get some free home teeth whitening.

Uh, so I was like, yes, I'll have that please.

Let's do that.

So I've done it just for half the time, and I think my teeth look nicely white.

I think if they went any whiter, they would maybe look a little bit weird.

What do you think?

I'm smiling again, right?

So, The things to consider if you are thinking about teeth whitening.

So first of all, I would always go and see a dentist.

Find out whether your teeth are just stained or whether

it's actually thin enamel.

A dentist would be able to tell you that.

And so if you have thin enamel, teeth whitening would be terrible because

it would make your teeth very painful.

It would potentially damage the enamel you have left, and

it wouldn't have an outcome.

There would be no white teeth at the end, so that's something to consider.

You'd also want to consider whether it would suit your lifestyle because there

are things you have to give up in order to whiten your teeth successfully, and

you also want to consider the price.

Now, I've been very lucky.

I managed to get my teeth whitening free, but if I were to pay, then

a home teeth whitening kit, I believe is about 200 pounds.

If it comes from your dentist, you can also have an

on-the-day, one-off treatment.

You have to go into see a professional to have it done, and I think

that costs more like 600 pounds.

It's very expensive and they use a machine and very, very

strong gel to whiten your teeth.

Or you can go for the cheaper option, which is to order

whitening strips off the internet.

Now, personally I do not recommend this.

I think it's really dangerous to just randomly buy some strips from

the internet hoping that it's a good quality product and that it's

not going to damage your teeth.

I think your teeth, you know, apart from when you're a child and you know

you've got your adult teeth to come...

So we talk about our baby teeth.

And then our adult teeth.

So as a child, you have all your baby teeth and they fall out, and you are

mostly excited about losing your baby teeth because in the UK, every time you

lose a tooth, you put it under your pillow and the tooth fairy comes when you sleep.

And she replaces it with money.

Fantastic.

Um, so as a, as a child, losing your teeth is, is something to look forward to.

And then getting your adult teeth come through is quite exciting too.

But once you lose your adult teeth or once you damage them, then that's it.

And that, that's quite scary.

So treat your teeth with respect.

Look after them, because you're not going to get any more.

The only way to get new teeth after that is to go through painful and

expensive procedures to have implants.

I mean, I say painful.

I've never had it done because I'm a wimp.

I do have one tooth that had to be removed at the back here, and the

intention was to have the tooth removed and then replace it with an implant.

But I'm such a wimp.

Having the tooth removed was really painful.

I just thought, I can't even imagine them having to cut my

gum, drill into my jaw bone to put in a peg to then put in a tooth.

I just, I was like, "no thank you".

It's at the back of my mouth.

I can cope without it.

Nobody sees it, so, no.

I wouldn't say I'm a wimp, but I have my limits for sure.

So those are the things you need to consider.

and, and those are the options.

You've got the very expensive one day whitening.

The take home teeth whitening kits, which usually take about two weeks.

Or the strips, which are not recommended.

So the procedure for going with the home kit is you have to go and see

your dentist and your dentist checks your teeth and says, yes, you're a

good candidate for teeth whitening.

Your teeth will respond well probably to teeth whitening.

So then they will take impressions of your teeth, so to take impressions,

which basically means they make a mold of your teeth, which they then send to a

lab, where someone makes trays for you.

So to take these impressions, they have to use these big trays that they

fill with this soft putty that they then shove into your mouth and you

have to bite down, and hold while...

until it sets the putty has to set.

To set means it has to go hard.

And so you are there with this putty filled tray in your mouth.

And it, oh my goodness.

It's probably my least favorite thing that I've ever had done in the dental chair.

You know, needles are horrible, fillings are horrible, extractions are

horrible, root canals are horrible.

But for me, I really hate having impressions taken.

And actually I really don't like having x-rays taken either.

The reason is with this putty filled tray, it's such a mouthful.

It's so big, and this putty is so far back...

I've got a very small mouth.

The inside of my mouth is tiny.

And it fills right up to the back of your throat.

And I have a very sensitive, kind of, what we call a gag reflex.

So your gag reflex is your reaction to something touching

the back of your throat.

It makes you gag.

That's to gag.

I won't do it too often.

I don't want to make anyone feel unwell.

That's a gag.

Okay.

So we use gag in a number of different ways.

Actually, if you gag someone, Oh, you need to gag him.

It means you either need to stop them from talking.

If someone's going to reveal a big secret that you don't want anyone to

know, then you might have to gag them.

You might pay them some money to gag them.

But to physically gag someone is to shove something in their

mouth to stop them from talking.

They've been gagged.

People who've been kidnapped in the movies, they're often

shown to be gagged and bound.

Gagged and bound.

And so gag someone, metaphorically gag them to stop them from talking.

You can gag the action of gagging.

I often have a sensitive gag reflex, so having something at the back of my throat

makes me want to start gagging, and so I have to breathe and think, meditate, go to

my happy place to stop myself from getting in a panic and starting my gag reflex.

If that happened, if I get to that point of gagging, then, then I would

just feel too sick to continue.

Now they take the mold, they take the impression of your teeth and they

send them off and the trays are made.

So your trays are the little plastic replicas of your teeth, which you

then slot on top of your teeth.

And once they're on, because they're translucent, their see-through, you can

see through them, they are transparent.

You know, no one can really tell you've got them on, other than you

might speak in a slightly funny way.

I always do.

When I've got mine on, I always sound a bit funny.

I find my mouth gets quite dry when I wear my trays.

So you take your trays home, they're normally fitted in the dentist's.

They make sure everything's comfortable and that it fits properly, and then

you take them home with your gel.

Often the gel should be kept in the fridge to keep it cool, to make it last longer.

And then each night you have to put some gel into your trays and put them

in and leave them on for a little while.

Now what I'm going to do is read to you some of the instructions I

had to read and sign off on when I was taking my trays home.

So the first thing that I was given was a form that said:

There are a few things that you should know about teeth whitening.

We cannot guarantee the results.

So this is them covering their backs.

To cover your back means that you make sure no one can come

back and blame you for something.

Okay?

They are covering their back.

So you can't hit them or stab them in the back, right?

So we can't guarantee the results as everyone's teeth will respond

differently to the course of treatment.

Number two, you may experience some sensitivity.

Now, this is a really big thing.

Sensitivity and teeth whitening pretty much go hand in hand.

I don't know anyone who's had their, excuse me, frog in my throat,

I don't know anyone who's had their teeth whitened, who hasn't

experienced sensitivity on some level.

So you may experience some sensitivity, some cases more extreme than others,

but there are ways to combat the sensitivity in order to help you progress

comfortably with the tooth whiten.

If you experience sensitivity, please stop the treatment

and use Sensodyne toothpaste.

Number three.

I normally say the whitening lasts about 18 months, but obviously

this depends on your habits, tea, cough, coffee, et cetera, and also

on your teeth as an individual.

I normally recommend a mini top-up treatment, one or two applications

after approximately six months.

This should normally be done a few days after a hygiene clean because

again, hygiene, clean and teeth whitening, they go hand in hand.

They work well together.

Then it goes on to tell me about the procedure of using

these trays to whiten my teeth.

It says: First floss.

Now, we should all be flossing every day anyway, but it's good to be reminded

because some people are a little bit lax when it comes to flossing.

So first, floss and brush your teeth, preferably with Sensodyne,

toothpaste and mouth rinse.

Then load the trays as instructed.

Place a small amount of gel in each tooth compartment of the trays.

You have to put a little blob of gel within each space for each tooth.

The bigger the tooth, the more gel you will need.

Then place the tray with the gel into your mouth and gently push on the trays

to position them uhuh so you get them right in nice and snug against your teeth.

And it says, be sure to remove any excess from the gum margins.

The margins are the edges and do this with a cotton wool swab.

I find that interesting.

I don't call them swabs.

I call them cotton wool buds, cotton wool buds or ear earbuds, I call them.

Although you are always advised never to put a cotton wool bud in your ear.

But obviously I grew up calling them ear buds, so you can guess what I

used to do with cotton wool buds.

Yes.

Stick them in my ear and twizzle them around, it's so satisfying.

And then, oh, throw that away.

But yeah, it's really bad.

It pushes wax deep down into your ear.

And in some cases, if you push too hard, you could do damage to your eardrum.

But that's another podcast episode.

Today with talking about teeth.

So you use a cotton wool swab.

Be careful not to leave any gel on your gums as this could result

in, it could cause, it could result in irritation of the gums.

Oh dear.

We don't want that.

In the event that you do experience gum irritation, please

stop the treatment and apply...

here they've said, vit E oil to your gums.

Now vit E...

people write it in different ways, but it's vitamin short for vitamin,

vitamin E oil ...only proceed with the treatment once the gums have healed fully.

Number six, do not apply any gel to the very back molars.

Now, the back teeth, the big ones.

These are called molars.

Your molars.

You also have the sharp ones on, kind of, either side of your front

teeth, like ...if you're thinking you got your two front teeth.

And then the next two along, and then the next two are along

are sharp -talking funny because I've got my fingers in my mouth.

The sharp ones are called your canines.

Your canines.

And then if I remember correctly, your front ones, your incisors.

Incisors.

So your molars, your canines, your incisors.

Let's hope I'm not wrong on that.

Okay?

So, uh, it says you only need to apply gel to your visible teeth, essentially.

And then it talks about the fact that the gel should last for a week.

Oh, maybe I've not been liberal enough with my gel cause I've already done a

week and I still have lots of gel left.

Maybe I should be putting more on.

And it says, you can stop the treatment if you feel your teeth

have responded sufficiently.

Well, I'm showing my teeth again.

I think I'm gonna stop my treatment because I'm happy

with this shade of white.

I don't think I need to go any . Lighter than this.

Then it says, if you struggle, oh, I've got an itchy eyelid.

That's bizarre.

How often do you get an itchy eyelid?

Not very often.

That's weird.

Also, like when you get an itchy palm, that's always weird, isn't it?

Getting an itchy palm, that's supposed to be a sign of money coming in or out.

I can't remember which is which.

But something like if your left palm is itchy, then it's a sign that

money's coming in and you should try and scratch it on some wood.

It's one of these weird superstitions.

Quick find some wood.

I've got itchy hand, and if your right palm is itchy, then it's

money going out and you should leave it or you'll lose money.

I can't remember something like that.

That's another podcast episode, isn't it?

So, it says if you struggle to find time during the day, you

can wear the trays overnight.

But please note wearing them overnight does not equate to

a better whitening result.

It does not equate to, it's not equal to, it doesn't mean better whitening results.

As the gel is usually inactive after a couple of hours.

So what I do is I put my trays in when I go to bed, and then that's

usually around 10, 11 o'clock at night.

And my youngest son often wakes me up around one o'clock in the morning.

So after I've seen to him and put him back to sleep, then I go to

the bathroom and take my trays out.

And that works for me because I don't like having them in all night.

Then it says, please do not wear the trays overnight if you've recently

completed or in the middle of orthodontic treatments such as Invisalign.

Orthodontic treatment is treatment to realign your teeth, so it's using

braces or this new method, which is Invisalign, which uses trays.

To adjust the alignment of your teeth.

So if you are doing that, then don't do teeth whitening until

that treatment is finished.

Here's a fun fact.

When I was a teenager, I had full, what I call train track braces, so

the old fashioned mouthful of metal.

Braces all across the front top and all across the front bottom.

Really, you know, metallic braces.

Very, uh, very frustrating.

I was,...

I must have been 16 through to 18 years old, that kind of age, and maybe when

I was 19 I had them taken off and, uh, I still now actually have a bar on the

inside of my bottom teeth to hold my teeth in place because my teeth,...

I had overcrowding in my mouth and my teeth were moved so much...

because once the teeth I needed removing were removed, made more space, we

realigned my teeth and then my lower teeth were a little bit loose because there

was not enough gum line or something.

I don't know.

Anyway, they had to put a bar in place to stop my bottom teeth all falling out.

And I said, how long do I have to have this on?

And they said forever.

Which is fine, but I often get food stuck just behind, underneath the back of my

bottom teeth, and it's so hard to get the floss, the little interdental brushes.

The little brushes that you use to push between your teeth, I have to use them on

the front bottom teeth, because I can't get flossed down because of the bar.

It's very hard to get those brushes inside from the bottom up.

So when I do get something stuck there, what a nightmare?

Anyway, my teeth are still here, so I'm, I'm happy with anything

that keeps my teeth in place.

So then it says, the next morning, or after two hours of

whitening, remove the trays, rinse them in cold water and dry them.

Store them in the storage case in a cool, dry place.

And then rinse and brush your teeth to remove excess gel, so any extra unneeded

gel, and then avoid eating or drinking for two hours after the whitening treatment.

Okay, well, that's why I kind of do it overnight.

It's just more convenient.

And then for best results, treatment should go uninterrupted.

But if you do miss a day or two, the process can be extended to

compensate for the time missed.

And it says finally, in order to obtain the best results avoid

substances such as tea, coffee, red wine, tobacco, and curries.

Or anything that would stain a white t-shirt.

Well, hang on a minute.

Now I have to deal with stained clothing a lot because I've got two

young, two young boys who like to spill everything down their tops.

And I know that anything that's tomato based stains their clothes.

Which is a lot of food.

That's a lot of things are tomato based.

I love pasta and stews that all have a tomato base.

So if I can't eat curry and I can't eat tomato, and I can't drink coffee,

and I can't drink tea, and I can't drink wine because I don't drink

white wine, it has to be red wine...

for two weeks.

That's terrible.

Means having a very bland diet.

And this is another reason why at one week I'm stopping because I just

need tea and coffee back in my life.

Yeah.

So you have to, you have to know your limits.

Are you willing to give up those things for a period of

time to obtain the best result.

Okay, I'm going to finish.

How long have we been going over 30 minutes?

Goodness me.

Who would've thought that such a topic would have such length?

I'm going to end with asking, teeth whitening is a cosmetic procedure,

and often when people talk about having a cosmetic procedure,

they think, oh, well that's vain.

That's what vain people do.

And that makes me wonder, well, is brushing your hair vain?

Because anything you do to your appearance, you are mostly doing

it so that you look better.

Probably because you want other people to like the way you look,

or to fit in and then in turn to give you a higher self-esteem.

So if whitening your teeth is vain, is brushing your hair vain?

Is shaving vain because men and women both shave, is that vein, making yourself

look tidy, clean, fresh, more attractive, giving yourself a little goatee, or

a moustache or shaving it all off?

Ladies shaving your underarm or your legs, is that vain?

And where is the line between vanity and simple pride in your appearance?

Just wanting to look smart.

It's an interesting question, right?

Where is that line?

When is it just simple vanity and where is it just pride in appearance?

I personally think that having a teeth whitened isn't really a vain thing

to do, especially if you are someone who, you know, films themself a lot

and has thousands of people watching and staring at your mouth, especially

when you're teaching pronunciation and saying, "Hey, look at my mouth while

I show you how this word is spoken.

Let me show you how to form this sound."

I'm literally putting my teeth on show, and therefore, just like if my car was

a show car, I want to make sure they look as clean and fresh as possible.

So if my car had terrible paint work, if the paint had faded, the colour was jaded

and the paint work was scratched and just, you know, needed a refresh, then you'd

go and get a fresh lick of paint, right?

You'd have the paint work done and you'd clean the car.

And that, you know, it's the same, it's the same with with teeth, I think.

I think it's just pride in appearance.

And I did do a video not long ago about the stereotype of Brits having bad teeth.

And quite a few people said, oh, well you've definitely had work done.

You can't talk about Brits having good teeth because you've had work done.

You're so fake.

And I was like, "well what do you mean by work done?

Because yes, I've had lots of hygiene cleans to remove stains.

Yes, I had orthodontic treatment to straighten my teeth up.

And yes, now I've had teeth whitening done to make them a bit whiter, but I haven't

had all my teeth like filed down into pegs and a complete set of fake teeth put on.

And then even if I did, is that such a bad thing?

If it makes me fit in and makes everyone, you know, enjoy looking

at my teeth and not thinking, oh, you got a funny set of teeth, but

going, oh, she's got nice teeth.

And if that in turn gives you confidence, is that such a bad thing?

These are things to think about, right?

Things to consider.

So, I think we've covered enough.

If you are still here, if you're not grinding your teeth in frustration with me

drawing out this topic then thank you so much and I really appreciate your loyalty

sticking with me along this journey.

There are plenty of other interesting episodes on other things, not

teeth related, but hopefully that you'll find interesting.

So do check out the other episodes of the English Like A Native podcast.

Perhaps consider subscribing, and then you will hopefully be notified.

I don't really know how podcasts work, but you'll be notified

when I release a new podcast.

Or at least you might see it when you're browsing through your podcast options.

So thank you again for joining me.

I do hope you found it useful.

Until next time, take care and goodbye.