Whitening

• The process of teeth bleaching is basically soaking your teeth in hydrogen peroxide. What you can choose is the concentration, the delivery system and the exposure time.
• Bleaching your teeth does not hurt the enamel. It can make your teeth sensitive temporarily, but the sensitivity is reversible with a short amount of time, usually a day or two. There are other products that you can use that are helpful in preventing and or lessening the sensitivity.
• Professionally purchased whitening gels contain fluoride and potassium nitrate (the active ingredient in Sensodyne) to reduce sensitivity.
• Bleaching teeth does not change the color of the roots, fillings or crowns.
• In office bleaching uses a higher concentration of gel to boost the process. It is usually followed up with take home trays. Adding a light to this process has been proven to be of no value.
• Soft custom trays are the best, most comfortable delivery system of gel, allowing the individual choice of product.
• The amount of time the gel is used and the concentration of product should be best individually determined. If your teeth are very sensitive, use a weaker gel, shorter time, and longer intervals between treatments.
• Good results can be obtained usually in a few weeks with about 6-8 home treatments.
• Gel usually lasts if refrigerated about one to one and a half years.
• Whitening results last typically for more than a year, but, of course vary depending upon the amount of usage of products that can cause staining in the first place, such as smoking, coffee, tea and red wine. You’re in control!