The beauty of a smile largely depends upon the state of your oral health, and since teeth are the most visible part of your mouth, they affect the aesthetics of your smile. While the natural colour of teeth is usually off-white resembling the colour of an eggshell, regular consumption of some foods can cause them to become yellowish or greyish dull colour. This discoloration of teeth affects the brightness of your smile, reducing the value it adds to your personality.
To whiten teeth, you might think that the whitening toothpaste and the whitening strips available on the market are a good solution instead of visiting a clinic that provides services for teeth whitening near you. Factually speaking though, these methods might help only to a certain extent in lighting the colour of your teeth, but will not be able to provide complete whitening. If you wish to have your teeth whitened from the comfort of your home, a dentist near you can provide you with a customized at-home solution that works best for you.
At-home teeth whitening
Let us explore the at-home methods of teeth whitening and how they work.
- Bleach – There are dental bleaches available for whitening teeth at home which are convenient and can give good results for mild discoloration of teeth. They come in the form of whitening pens and whitening strips. A whitening pen is a tube of a whitening solution with a brush at the tip. It can be easily applied to teeth after brushing and does not require rinsing. Sometimes, light can be applied to teeth after the application of the whitening pen to give better results. Whitening strips come in a set of two strips containing whitening gel. It can be applied easily and without disrupting your daily activities as they are quite discreet
- Surface Whiteners -These dental whiteners come in the form of special toothpaste that has ingredients that help clear stains from teeth. Charcoal toothpaste contains abrasive charcoal particles that help to remove stains from substances such as coffee and tea. While they give successful results with some stains, they might not perform as well as peroxide-based whiteners. Whitening toothpaste contains ingredients like hydrogen peroxide, carbamide peroxide, and abrasives. They can be used like regular toothpaste in your daily brushing ritual. While surface whiteners are very convenient and provide moderate results, the two downsides of this method are damage to tooth enamel by abrasive action and tooth sensitivity.
It is highly recommended that you consult with a dentist providing services for teeth whitening in NE Calgary before adopting the methods of teeth whitening mentioned above.
In-office Teeth Whitening
For more severe cases of discoloration, or for teeth that have darkened due to age, it might make more sense to go for an in-office whitening treatment, which is carried out at a dental clinic under the supervision of a dentist. This method of teeth whitening can provide results lasting up to nearly 3 years if you are able to follow all the instructions and suggestions given by your dentist post-treatment.
Vital bleaching is done for teeth that are living but have darkened due to age or staining from food substances. Non-vital bleaching is used for teeth that have undergone a root canal and hence are not living anymore.
To start with, when you visit a dentist practicing dentistry in NE Calgary providing teeth whitening services, a cheek retractor will be inserted into your mouth to fully expose all the teeth that will be visible when you smile. After that, a whitening gel will be applied to your teeth and left for about 15-30 minutes. This process is repeated a few times until the desired result is achieved. Sometimes, your dentist might also use an intense light to enhance the effect of the bleaching gel.
Although in-office whitening might be more expensive than at-home methods, the results are vastly better. For safe and effective teeth whitening near you, visit our clinic!
