Your pregnancy may limit your teeth whitening options. If you want to make your teeth whiter, you're unlikely to get your dentist to agree to give you a professional treatment while you're carrying your baby. You should also typically avoid home or salon treatments while you're pregnant.

According to Essential Baby, chemical teeth whitening is viewed as an unsafe procedure in pregnancy. While there is no hard evidence that the chemicals in teeth whitening kits will harm your baby, there is also no evidence that they won't. If you're pregnant, you may prefer to wait until you've had your baby to have a chemical treatment. In the meantime, you can investigate other ways to whiten your teeth that are safe in pregnancy.

Get a Clean and Scale

Your dentist may not want to give you a whitening treatment but will likely be happy to book you in for a clean and scale when you're pregnant. During this procedure, your dentist works to remove external stains on your teeth and also tackles plaque and tartar deposits. Eliminating stains, plaque and tartar makes your teeth cleaner than you may be able to get them at home, and it may also make your teeth look whiter by removing the substances that make your teeth look discoloured.

This is also a good way to help avoid pregnancy-related teeth and gum problems. According to the Better Health Channel, hormonal changes make it hard for you to deal with plaque effectively when you're pregnant. This may increase the risk of gum disease. If your dentist can give you a helping hand to clean up plaque and the tartar it sometimes turns into, you may have fewer dental problems when you're pregnant.

Try a Whitening Toothpaste

If you want to give your teeth a basic whitening spruce up, you may find that switching to a whitening toothpaste helps. According to Baby Centre, these toothpastes shouldn't cause you any problems because they target stain removal rather than whitening. Again, eliminating stains on your teeth may make your teeth look a little naturally whiter.

Try Natural Home Whitening Remedies

While not as effective as a chemical bleach, you may be able to use alternative remedies to whiten your teeth a little when you're pregnant. For example, mixing baking soda with water and using it as a toothpaste may help whiten your teeth by getting rid of surface stains. Baking soda acts as an abrasive on your teeth and may help you tackle staining that regular brushing can't touch.  

Some fruits are also considered to have natural whitening effects. For example, pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that can remove some stains, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The texture of fibrous fruits like pineapple can also give your teeth a natural clean while you're eating, as its fibres rub gently against your teeth as you chew. Apples also have this kind of scrubbing effect.

While natural teeth whitening remedies may be useful when you're pregnant, you should be careful how you use them to avoid damaging your teeth. For example, a baking soda paste's abrasiveness may damage your tooth enamel as well as scrape off stains. This treatment is best used as a weekly deep clean rather than a regular daily one. The sugars and acids in fruits may also be bad for your teeth's enamel; however, it may help to rinse your mouth out with water, especially if you're eating fruit between meals, to remove some of the acids from your teeth.

Once you have your baby and quit breastfeeding, you should be clear to obtain the professional whitening treatments you want from a cosmetic dentist in your area.