Cosmetic Teeth Whitening
What Is Teeth Whitening?
Cosmetic - Teeth Whitening (or bleaching) is a simple, non-invasive, and non-medical treatment used to change the color of natural tooth enamel and is an ideal way to enhance the beauty of your smile. There is no scraping, drilling or tools involved in this treatment. Tooth whitening is not permanent. A touch-up maybe needed every 1-3 months, and more often if you smoke, drink coffee, tea, or wine.
How Does Cosmetic Teeth Whitening Work?
Peroxide gel is put into a mouth tray, allowing the front of the teeth to contact directly the gel. We also place a gum protectant to help prevent any sensitivity. A blue cold light lamp is placed directly in front of the client's open mouth for 45-90 mins. After your treatment clients see an improvement of between 4-20 shades.
Candidates for Teeth Whitening
Just about anyone is a candidate for teeth whitening. However, the following cases should be considered:
• People with dark yellow or yellow-brown teeth tend to whiten better than people with gray or bluish-gray teeth.
• Multi-colored teeth, especially if due to tetracycline, do not whiten very well.
• People with significant periodontal disease are not good candidates
• If you are pregnant, obtain permission from your doctor before trying the whitening procedure.
• People with minimal discoloration, (teeth that are already very white) may not see a substantial degree of whitening.
• Teeth with many fillings, cavities, chips, etc., are usually best treated by bonding, porcelain veneers or porcelain crowns. Any current restoration you have, such as, fillings, porcelain crowns, onlays and inlays cannot be whitened.
Are There Any Risk Involved?
• TOOTH SENSITIVITY - During the first 24 hours following whitening, some patients experience transient sensitivity. This sensitive is usually mild if your teeth are not normally sensitive. With power whitening, this sensitivity will usually subside in 1-2 days. With home whitening, it may be necessary for you to reduce the number of minutes or hours you are wearing the whitening trays or stop using if for several days to resolve the sensitivity. However, if your teeth are normally sensitive, whitening may make your teeth more sensitive for an extended period of time. Under these circumstances, you may choose to delay the whitening process until we are able to complete desensitization procedures. If your teeth are sensitive after whitening, a mild analgesic such as Tylenol or Advil will usually be effective in making you more comfortable until your tooth sensitivity returns to normal.
• GUM IRRITATION - This is the result of a small amount of solution leaking under the gum protection. A burning sensation on your gums may also occur. This should resolve by itself between a few hours to a few days. You may also experience burning and /or swelling of the lips. With home whitening, irritation can result from over filling your trays causing leakage onto the gum tissue. Irritation can also occur if you are using the tray for too many hours when you first start whitening. It may be necessary for you to reduce the amount of gel placed and reduce the amount of time you are wearing the trays or stop wearing for a few days.
• EFFECT ON FILLINGS - Tooth colored fillings will not whiten. If the filling matches your current color, whitening will result in mix-matched shades with your natural teeth. You may need to have your fillings replaced to match you newly whitening teeth.
How Do I Keep Up My Results?
Drink with a straw when drinking fluids that can dye your teeth such as coffee, teas, wine, or juices. Try to avoid smoking and brush your teeth twice daily.