Tooth Whitening

We get tons of questions all the time about tooth bleaching, tooth whitening (same thing) and the like. We have been doing this for a long time and know a little bit about it.

Tooth bleaching has really changed how dentistry works, because of its popularity. The lightest shade of natural teeth (we call it a B1 shade) used to be the lightest shade we would ever use for porcelain crowns or tooth colored fillings, and today, it is too dark for 80% of the treatment we provide!

Anyway, what happens when you bleach a tooth is that the peroxide solution that is the tooth whitening actually gets between the crystals of the tooth enamel and lifts off the old stains and debris that gets deeper than can be reached with a toothbrush or our cleanings. This turns the enamel (the outer hard shell of the tooth) to a lighter and more translucent appearance. 

When someone has a discoloration of the dentin, or inside part of the tooth, bleaching often won't help, and sometimes even makes it worse, by making the enamel more translucent. For instance, when someone has tetracycline stain, bleaching often doesn't do any good at all, since the problem is in the dentin.

You have probably heard of Zoom bleaching, or seen the places at the mall or at Sam's where they are doing instant (supposedly) bleaching. From my perspective, the Zoom and Britesmile sort of in-office bleachings are sort of a waste of time. You essentially are getting some immediate whitening, mostly from dehydration, and in order to get the final result you want, you are going to have to do the tray bleaching in addition.  It is sort of bittersweet for us to realize this, since we HAVE a Zoom light, but we just felt it wasn't fair to our patients to charge what we need to charge and not get the results we need and want.

Tooth bleaching has a couple of downsides- one is sensitivity. There are some special toothpastes that really can help with this, one is a high fluoride toothpast and another is called MI paste. Both seem to cut down on sensitivity greatly. You need to use these for a week or two before starting your bleaching.

The other downside is when you have already have some significant dentistry done, and you want to bleach your teeth. Your natural teeth will bleach, but any crowns, veneers or fillings won't change colors at all. We always recommend someone bleach before they have any cosmetic treatment.

As it is, tooth bleaching is inexpensive, effective and easy- what's not to like about that?

Have a good day!

Rick