Janina Ultrawhite Toothpaste

I don't have naturally sparkly white teeth, and not a lot of people do. In fact the natural colour of your enamel is hereditary, and of course it's affected by what you eat and drink and whether you smoke. For a truly dazzling white smile I would probably need professional whitening, which is way beyond my budget, but a little helping hand from my toothpaste certainly wouldn't go amiss. I have to admit I haven't seen much difference with them in the past, and I've tried quite a few, but that never stops me wondering so recently I picked up a tube of Janina Ultrawhite Extra Strength.

This is more of a premium whitening toothpaste, if toothpaste can ever be called premium, which promises to take care of the usual oral concerns while using Bromaine Complex, a clever bunch of fruit enzymes, to whiten teeth without the same abrasive action you would get from baking soda. In fact the BBC's Health Watchdog programme found this was the only toothpaste (compared to other leading brands) which contained ingredients actually capable of whitening teeth and it also scored top in a Which? survey. Sounds too good to be true?

Actually I'm reasonably impressed. It does the usual toothpaste thing very well and has a strong minty flavour which leaves my mouth feeling tingly and definitely clean. It doesn't froth up excessively leaving me with a mouth full of icky tasting foam (Aquafresh High Definition I'm looking at you) but it's got enough substance to feel like it's actually cleaning my teeth rather than just polishing them (ahem, Pearl Drops...). But does it whiten? Well, yes to an extent. I don't have a just stepped out of the cosmetic dentist's office smile, and not did I expect to, but my teeth are noticeably brighter and less yellow tinged than they were after 2 weeks' usage.

Janina suggest you brush with this normally for 3 minutes and don't rinse in order to maximise the whitening effect but I just can't not rinse at all so I've tried to rinse less, which I'm getting used to. Also I imagine I'll see greater results when I get my electric toothbrush working again (epic charger fail). I actually look forward to brushing my teeth with this, in the same way I look forward to using a face mask I know really works. It's the only whitening toothpaste I've seen any decent results from and I shall be sticking with it. There's also a matching mouthwash I might invest in.

Are you blessed with perfect pearly whites or do you like to give Mother Nature a helping hand too?