DENTISTS AND DENTAL HYGENISTS: is it safe to whiten teeth with baking soda?

please tell me if its safe and why/why not? i want to try whitening my teeth with it, because i've heard it works wonders. does it really? i just want to make sure its healthy? and if you have time to do so, please explain how you whiten with baking soda, if its healthy of course. thanks
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Baking soda does not chemically whiten teeth AT ALL. All that it does is it increases the abrasiveness of your toothpaste. it would be like adding sand to your toothpaste. Like when you go to the dentist or hygienist and they polish your teeth with a pumice paste. When you spit it out you will notice that it is very gritty like sand....because it is! However, doing this removes micrometers of your enamel. That is why after the polish, they give you Fluoride trays. The fluoride ions help to rebuild the enamel. Using baking soda often, will also result in you losing small amounts of enamel. So remember, baking soda does not chemically whiten your teeth (peroxide gels that you put in trays that sit next to your teeth for 4-8 hours do chemically whiten teeth), it just scraps off more stain thereby (in theory) making them whiter!
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