What's the best way to whiten teeth?!


Question:

What's the best way to whiten teeth?


Answers:

The only way to truly lighten teeth is bleach them. Whitening toothpastes and allied products may help to remove staining but they cannot alter the intrinsic shade of the teeth.

However, the only safe way to whiten your teeth is to have it done professionally. Using "household products" carries a major risk of damage to your teeth and your health!

It is very important to get a thorough check up from a dentist prior to bleaching. Bleaching has the potential to cause irreversible sensitivity when carried out on teeth with undiagnosed and untreated decay. In addition, bleaching is not suitable for people with gum disease, as bleach can easily leach beneath he gums and cause further damage. And finally, almost everyone will benefit from a scaling (professional cleaning) of their teeth before going ahead with bleaching because any tartar on the teeth will prevent the bleach from working in those areas. When that tartar is subsequently removed, you may have patchy teeth.

One the check-up is out of the way, it is still best to stick with your dentist. Kits that can be purchased in high street stores are potentially damaging. Many of them do not contain bleach, due to various restrictions on its sale and marketing. At best these will simply not whiten your teeth. At worst, they can be very acidic and literally strip the enamel off you teeth. Ironically this exposes the dentine beneath the enamel and since this is yellower than enamel, your teeth will end up looking yellower than they did to start with!

Furthermore, the trays that come with these kits are obviously not a custom fit. The bleaching material can easily leak around the edges of these trays. This not only takes it out of contact with the teeth, so they won't bleach, but can also damage, even burn, the soft tissues in your mouth.

If you have bleaching done by your dentist, there is usually a choice between 'in-surgery' bleaching, and 'home' bleaching. The latter involves custom fit trays being made and you applying the bleach at home for anything between one hour up to overnight each day. This process can take anywhere from a week to a month, depending on the starting shade of your teeth and how regularly you bleach.

Both methods are very safe and a proven success. Personally I see more predictable results with the home kits, however. These also have the advantage that you are in control. As soon as you reach a colour you like, you stop. If you use up all your bleach, you can obtain more. As all bleaching has the tendency to cause reversible sensitivity, you can also take breaks to help control this. With the surgery bleaching, the colour you get at the end is what you are stuck with, and if you turn out to get a lot of sensitivity, you will be stuck with this for several days.

My biggest reason for favouring this method, though, is that you get to keep the trays and can easily obtain more bleach from your dentist to do a 'top-up' several months after the initial course. Unfortunately bleaching is not permanent, and the colour will often drift back, especially if you smoke or drin a lot of tea, coffee or red wine. Obtaining a small amount of bleach for a top up is much easier and cheaper than going through a whole in-surgery procedure again.




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