Professional teeth whitening is one of the popular cosmetic dental procedures offered by a dental practice. Everyone likes to be confident of their smile and teeth whitening treatment is the most easy and most effective way of sprucing up your smile. If you have stained or yellowed teeth, then it makes you more self conscious about smiling in public and it can affect your social interactions at work and even in personal relationships. You can get your confidence back with teeth whitening at your dentist.
Your dentist will first try to find out the reason behind the staining of your teeth when you come in for a whitening consultation. Tooth discolouration may have a number of causes. The most common cause of yellowing or discoloration is visible plaque. When you do not brush your teeth and floss regularly, there may be accumulation of plaque on the surface of your teeth. Left untreated this can cause serious dental and medical problems too, like tooth decay, gum recession, infection, and more. The presence of plaque on your teeth requires immediate attention from your dentist.
Our daily habits and diet, like smoking or drinking red wine, cola or even coffee can stain out teeth. Some prescription medicines and health conditions also have side effects like discoloring the teeth. Professional teeth whitening can restore the brightness of your teeth and help remove even tough stains and discoloration from the enamel of the teeth, without any side effects. Tooth whitening prescribed by your dentist can improve the color and brightness of your smile. Even suitably trained dental professional, such as a hygiene therapist, can carry out the actual treatment based on your dentist’s prescription. But teeth whitening from aestheticians or beauty salons should be avoided as it is illegal and it can seriously damage your teeth and gums.
Teeth Whitening Procedures
Whitening treatment should only be carried out on a healthy mouth so your dentist will examine your teeth and gums to check for problems such as tooth decay before starting your whitening treatment. Depending on the condition of your teeth, you may be recommended a two-week course of home whitening, followed by a professional tooth clean by your dentist.
Mouth Trays
Depending on your desired shade of white for your teeth, you may have to opt for in-office bleaching treatment at your dentist’s office. Teeth whitening treatment with special dental bleaching gel to gently remove stains from your teeth shows amazing results immediately and it may take just an hour in the dentists’ chair. The concentrated peroxide gel used for in-office whitening works on your teeth evenly by oxygenating the stains from the inside out. The higher concentration of bleaching gel gives long-lasting but quick results that are better than any other teeth whitening method.
Take-home whitening works by preparing custom trays filled with prescription-strength whitening gel specifically for your teeth. You can also get at-home whitening, which involves the use of custom-made whitening trays that can hold professional gel at home to effectively clean your teeth. Your dentist will take impressions of your teeth to get custom-fitted mouth trays made from the lab. You will need to go back to your dentist in a week to ten days to have your mouth trays filled with low strength peroxide so that it can be in touch with your teeth and gums. Since the trays are custom made by your dentist, they should fit well and stay put, making them more effective and easier to use than generic whitening trays. You have to place whitening gel in each tooth area of your custom whitening trays and wear the trays for the amount of time as instructed by your dentist. This will generally vary person to person according to the level of stains and issues like tooth recession.
Laser Bleaching
Laser bleaching is the latest in-office cosmetic teeth bleaching procedure that has caught the fancy of many people. There are no lasers being used rather this whitening procedure uses light systems like halogen, LED or plasma for quick and visibly brighter cleaning. The treatment takes half an hour, wherein a concentrated carbamide peroxide gel or hydrogen peroxide gel is applied on your teeth and laser technology is used to boost the bleaching process of the peroxide gel in the shortest time possible.
Your teeth will retain its brightness for longer depending on your lifestyle habits. If you smoke, drink red wine, soda, or eat foods that stain your teeth, you will need a touch up on your teeth sooner. Avoiding these habits that can discolor your teeth will help you in preserving your smile for longer. If you have sensitive teeth, then you can let your dentist know about it to get more comfortable solutions for teeth whitening, like desensitizing gels and fluoride treatments.
