Ask Chris Black: What Do You Use to Keep Your Teeth Pearly White?

I am a sucker and love Mavis strongmint toothpaste. A classic, it looks beautiful in mybathroom.

If you are feeling crazy, try Email Diamant. It is RED — a shocking color to see swishing around your mouth — but your teeth will look a little brighter after one brushing.

I am a big proponent of mouthwash. Nothing better post-brush! A swig of Listerine Ultraclean in cool mint gives me a hurts-so-good burning sensation that makes my chompers feel truly CLEAN.

If I can’t take the heat of Listerine, I will use Desert Essence’s tea-tree-oil mouthwash. It’s less harsh, but leaves your mouth feeling just as clean.

I also have this wild charcoal teeth-whitening powder that works! (Regular readers may recognize it, asStrategist has featured the stuffbefore.) It makes your sink look like you spit up a giant bowl of squid-ink pasta, but we do crazy stuff to make our teeth white. It’s worth it.

I love the small Laccio table Marcel Breuer designed for Knoll — simple and will work in almost any space. It also comes in white.

This low table that Charles and Ray Eames designed for Herman Miller is perfect if you keep your bed low to the ground (but not amattresson the floor — grow up). It comes in a myriad of finishes that all feature the iconic wire base.

Hay’s Don’t Leave Me Side Table (sounds like a Smiths song title) has a cleverly placed handle for easy movement from room to room, should you ever tire of it next to yourbed. Made from powder-coated steel, it’s also super light and comes in black, white, and three other neutralish colors in addition to this “racing green.”

If you have even a passing interest in theart world, I highly recommend Michael Shnayerson’sBoom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art. It details all the big personalities, big transactions, and market manipulations within that industry from the 1940s until today, featuring characters like the wheeling-and-dealing gallerists Larry Gagosian and Gavin Brown, along with iconic artists like Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, and Cy Twombly. An exceptional look behind the curtain.

Ben Lerner’sThe Topeka Schoolhas garnered a lot of attention … because it is actually that good. It’s a family drama set in the Midwest at the turn of the century (1997). The overarching theme is the challenge of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity, but the story also touches on the fall of public speech and the continuing identity crisis among white men.

I enjoyed Natasha Stagg’sSleeveless— a collection of essays (so hot right now!) and stories commissioned by fashion, art, and culture magazines. Stagg is direct and cynical with a perfect sprinkling of nostalgia. Really up my street. She was an editor at a fashion magazine, an advertising copy writer, and a branding consultant, so her cultural criticism feels authentic and — more importantly — of the moment. The sections about fashion and the internet are the strongest.