Tooth Whitening – Important Things to Know

Tooth whitening is getting increasingly popular because it is an effective cosmetic measure to add a shine to the personality and is available for every gender, budget and time-frame. What’s more you can do it even at home if you don’t prefer to go to your dentist’s office. Take a look at teeth whitening London for full information about this exciting new option for increasing your beauty. Let’s look at some points here too.

Whitening and Bleaching – Are They Different?

FDA allows the use of the term “bleaching” only when whitening can be done beyond the natural color of teeth. This strictly applies to products containing bleach, usually carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide.

On the other hand, the term “whitening” applies to restoring the surface color of teeth by removing debris and dirt. Thus, any product that cleans teeth, even toothpaste, can be technically called a whitener. However “whitening” sounds more attractive and so, is widely used even if the products involved in the procedure contain bleach.

Checking Enamel

Most of us have originally sparkling teeth because of the porcelain-like shield of enamel. Enamel contains microscopic crystalline rods and is meant to protect teeth from the effects of dental activities like gnashing, chewing, trauma and sugar acid attacks. But with time, it wears out and becomes more transparent to expose the yellow color of dentin, the core material of teeth.

At the time of chewing, dentin remains unaffected but millions of micro-cracks take place in enamel. It is these cracks and spaces between the crystalline rods in the enamel that go on filling up with debris and stains which give rise to a dull look to teeth.

Tooth whitening removes debris and stains and thus opens and exposes the enamel cracks. Some of these cracks are re-mineralized quickly by saliva, while others are again filled with organic debris.

Two Types of Tooth Discoloration

Staining is of two types.

Extrinsic Staining: This appears on the teeth’s surface because of dark-colored foods and drinks, and tobacco, and also due to routine wear and tear. If these stains are minor they can be removed with brushing as well as prophylactic dental cleaning. If they are stubborn, they need more efforts for removal, like bleaching. These stubborn extrinsic stains can pierce into the dentin and get ingrained if left unattended.

Intrinsic Stains: These are produced on the inside of the teeth. They appear because of aging, trauma, contact with minerals like tetracycline during formation of teeth and/or surplus ingestion of fluoride. Formerly it was believed that deep-set intrinsic stains cannot be removed by bleaching. But today cosmetic dentistry has evolved so much that it can correct them with supervised home teeth whitening and can be maintained white for more than some months or even a year. In case of failure of this, there are more cosmetic solutions too to correct intrinsic stains, like dental veneers.

Types of Tooth Whitening

In-office: This involves carefully used high concentration peroxide gel by dentist after securing the gums with a paint-on rubber dam. Several 15-20 minute sessions of this procedure makes a total duration of about an hour. For stubborn stains, more sessions or added home-use whitening procedure are needed.

Prescription Take-home Kit: Many dentists believe that these kits too can give excellent results. They are cheaper than the in-office treatment.

Over-the-Counter Kit: This is the cheapest option and may sometimes whiten only some front teeth, unlike the custom whitening trays that whiten all teeth.

So now, while planning tooth whitening, you can consider all these things and take a more educated decision. That will give you results as per your desire.