Teeth Whitening Essentials in 2019

Teeth whitening is one of the most sought after dental procedures to either regain one’s natural tooth shade or to make it more white beyond its natural shades. Apart from treatment, foods that might cause stains in tooth should be avoided to get pearly white teeth. Let us check out the to-dos that you can adhere to in order to get as well as maintain a whiter teeth:

• Give up addiction to smoking and consumption of other tobacco products
• Consumption of foods containing tannin such as tea, coffee etc. should be avoided
• Using other staining foods like beets, tomato sauce, candies, dark chocolates etc. are strictly prohibited if you want to maintain the shine of your teeth.
• Excess use of antibiotics might affect the dental health too.

However, there are times when you only wish that you had put yourself into a better oral care routine in your childhood days or teenage years. You immediately start off brushing and flossing regularly but without much result! It is now when you are bound to resort to teeth whitening techniques either at home or at your dentist’s office.

Which Teeth Whitening Process to go for?

Before getting into the teeth whitening techniques, you must be able to decide between an at-home whitening procedure and the one that is carried out by professionals in an office set up! Below are listed the basic differences between the two:

Usually an in-office treatment is far more recommended than the at-home procedure that uses the easily available, less effective OTC (over-the-counter) products. The reasons for this recommendation are as follows –

Same Day Results: In the in-office treatment, it is possible to achieve 5 to 8 shades whiter teeth on that very day of your treatment! At home kits on the other hand, need to be used again and again over a much longer period of time.

Sensitivity: The at-home whitening kits, especially if not used properly, may cause sensitivity issues. Moreover, these products cannot come in contact with your gums. If they do, they may cause redness as well as irritation. These details are difficult to be kept in mind, while you are
using the kit at home.

Longevity of Results: Whitening treatments that are performed in dental offices, use the rightly required proportion of hydrogen peroxide (the bleaching agent) under the supervision of professional dental experts. Therefore, they have proven to yield results that last much more
longer than the at-home kits!

How is the Teeth Whitening Process Pursued?

Dentists in their offices use chemicals that reacts in between the layers of teeth where stains generally occur.Hydrogen peroxide is the chemical usually used at dental offices to give you those dazzling white teeth. This is an active material which reacts and causes oxidation and helps breaking the stained compounds.

Dentists generally deject the use of teeth whitening toothpastes available over-the-counter (OTC) because it may destroy teeth sensitivity. Prolonged use of OTC products might make your teeth sensitive to too hot or too cold foods causing a tingling sensation every time you sip in a cup of coffee or a glass of cold drink!

Teeth whitening is somewhat controversial because, different countries have different rules regarding the permitted concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. A 35 per cent hydrogen peroxide concentration, can effectively permeate deep into the enamel structure. Weaker concentrations act only at the surface of the tooth enamel and not the inner layers!

While hydrogen peroxide is mostly the active ingredient in most whitening products, some teeth-whitening gels contain carbamide peroxide or sodium perborate too.Both of these agents break down to release hydrogen peroxide. Therefore hydrogen peroxide is the most popularly used teeth whitening agent across dental offices.

Facts to Know About A Whitening Process

1.   1. Before you go for a whitening process, get your mouth health checked up to ensure that it’s healthy enough to go through the procedure.
2. It’s common for teeth-whitening products to cause sensitivity. However this is temporary and therefore this should not hinder you from going for it.
3. One limitation of any type of whitening treatment is the dental restorations. Tooth-coloured fillings, veneers and crowns (caps), dentures, etc. won’t change colour, as whitening only has effect on natural teeth. This can then result in a mismatch between the teeth. and
4. Treatment by dentists typically costs more, but comes with more effective results for patients.

Since dentists are permitted to use stronger products than the OTC ones , they are more likely to understand what result is achievable with each type of whitening (office-based or home) and can therefore always deliver you with more satisfactory results as compared to what you could achieve for yourself at home!