Everything You Need to Know About Brightening Your Smile
There is nothing more aesthetically appealing than a bright smile. Since your smile is a great facial feature, you want it to be dazzling. Almost anyone desires to have their pearly whites as bright as possible, and many are willing to pay anything to get it.
However, it is essential to keep in mind more often than not; white teeth are the result of excellent oral health. Thanks to modern medicine, several options are available for you to brighten your smile. You can use over the counter products such as brighter white or come in, and our dentist professionally whitens your teeth.
As you are considering to get whiter teeth, you need to know which options are available and which option is appropriate for you.
Teeth Whitening Overview
Teeth whitening is a relatively straightforward process that is designed to remove the stains on your teeth. In a nutshell, all teeth whitening products, including home care, use peroxide-based bleaching agents.
In-office professional whitening systems have 15% to 43% peroxide, whereas home systems have 3% to 20% peroxide.
As a rule of thumb, the longer you have a stronger solution of teeth whitening agents, the whiter your teeth become. However, if you are using a strong solution, you will have to use it for a shorter time. Keeping it longer in your mouth will dehydrate your teeth leading to tooth sensitivity.
For this reason, you need to talk to our dentist to ensure which method will be appropriate for you.
Bleaching can only work on your natural tooth and cannot be used to whiten composite tooth-colored bondings or porcelain crowns.
What Causes Yellow Teeth?
The delicious foods that you eat, the beverages that you drink, and age all play a part in causing discoloration of your teeth. At times, these deep or surface-level stains can be caused by factors that are out of our control.
Some of the causes of yellow teeth include:
- Foods and Drinks
- Thin Enamel
- Smoking
- Dry Mouth
- Medications
Colored foods and beverages can even stain your teeth after whitening them. Foods such as pasta sauce, curry, balsamic vinegar, berries are notorious for staining teeth. If you also enjoy taking a lot of acidic and colored drinks such as coffee, tea, soda, wine, and sports drinks, it can cause tooth discoloration and enamel erosion.
Thin enamel (the outer covering of your teeth) can cause your teeth to appear yellow. This is because underneath the enamel is a pale brown substance known as dentin. Thin enamel, therefore, allows the pale brown hue to show through making the teeth look yellow.
Tobacco products like cigars and cigarettes have teeth staining substances that typically stick to the enamel’s ridges. Over time, these particles buildup and stain your teeth.
One of the primary roles of saliva is to neutralize acid and wash it away. If you have a dry mouth, then you will not have enough saliva to protect the enamel.
Antibiotics and other medications can also cause yellow teeth. Also, excessive fluoride can stain teeth.
Types of Teeth Stains
There are three types of stains:
- Extrinsic Stains
- Intrinsic Stains
- Age-Related Stains
Extrinsic stains are stains that are on the outer part of your tooth (enamel). These stains do not go beyond the enamel to the dentin. This makes it easier to remove.
Intrinsic stains that have gone beyond the enamel and to the sensitive part of your tooth called the dentin. This happens if you have thin enamel. The stains are tough to remove, but nothing that a professional cleaning could not handle.
As you age, the dentin gets darker, and your enamel becomes thinner. Like intrinsic stains, these stains affect the dentin.
How to Remove Teeth Stains
There are two ways of removing stains: At home stain removal and in-office cleaning.
At Home Stain Removal
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Whitening Toothpaste. These kinds of toothpaste are an excellent way of dealing with extrinsic stains. Most of them have abrasives that remove the surface stains while others contain whitening ingredients like hydrogen peroxide that go under the surface to remove deep level stains.
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Teeth Whitening Gel. You can find these gels from our dentist or over the counter. They have a higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide than kinds of toothpaste, and so they are used with trays to avoid contact with the rest of your mouth.
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Whitening Pens. They are quick and easy to use since you just apply the whitening gel from the pen on your teeth after brushing and don’t eat for some time as instructed on the packaging. That’s it.
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Teeth Whitening Strips. Instead of using trays, the whitening gel is pre-applied on the strips for easy application.
In-Office Bleaching
If the stains won’t budge when you try the other methods, then professional whitening is for you. It is the quickest way to remove the stains.
Zoom teeth whitening is a bleaching process that uses Zoom Advanced Power Chairside Lamp that accelerates the bleaching process after the whitening product has been applied on your teeth. The treatment usually takes 30 to 60 minutes.
Teeth whitening can cause tooth sensitivity or make it even more uncomfortable for people who have sensitive teeth. That is why you will need professional help. If you desire to have your teeth whitened, you can contact us at Dobra Dental, and we would love to brighten your smile.