The Basics
Why Should I Whiten My Teeth?
Teeth whitening is one of the best and easiest ways for you to dramatically improve your smile. A brighter whiter smile can help make you look younger, healthier, and more attractive. It can improve your self-image, as well as your professional or social image. Healthy vibrant smiles are one of the most positive and pleasing human interactions. Numerous studies and market research reports have shown this to be true, and more importantly, personal experience tells us that smiles are a great thing!
What Causes My Teeth to Get Darker?
Everyone has a different natural color to their teeth- basically white with varying hues of yellows, blues or browns. Everyone also has different habits, activities or life-events that stain their teeth and cause them to look darker. These stains breakdown into two general groups.
Exterior stains- These stains accumulate on the surface of the tooth from a wide variety of sources. The good news is these stains are the easiest to whiten. Most whitening products work in this realm of stains, regardless of their strength or delivery method. Exterior stains are caused by exposure to things such as dark-colored beverages, food and tobacco products.
Interior stains- these stains form on the interior of teeth resulting from things such as trauma or damage, aging, exposure to minerals (like tetracycline) during tooth formation and/or excessive ingestion of fluoride. Interior stains are much more difficult to remove, and many are impossible. However, many people who have interior stains can still see overall results when the exterior stains on their teeth are whitened.
How Does Whitening Work?
Most teeth whitening products use hydrogen peroxide, or some form of it, as the active ingredient to whiten the stains on your teeth. The simple process of Hydrogen peroxide breaking down into its molecular components of hydrogen and oxygen is responsible for the actual whitening results. One of the oxygen molecules in H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) breaks free, and all that remains is H2O or water. Since all people's teeth and stains are different, some people will see more results than others, but the basic concept of whitening will work on the vast majority of people with healthy teeth.
There are a variety of factors that determine the effectiveness of the hydrogen peroxide and the comfort and time involved with the whitening process. These include primarily the strength of the peroxide, the delivery system used for holding the peroxide on your teeth, and the length of time the peroxide is on your teeth. Peroxide strengths range from very low in some OTC products (3%) to very high in some dental offices (35%) Delivery systems vary and provide a method for holding the peroxide on your teeth during whitening. The three primary types of delivery systems are: Directly applied peroxide gel that is painted on teeth; Strips that have peroxide in them and are applied to surface of teeth; and Trays which are filled with peroxide gel and worn on your teeth.
What System Is Most Recommended By Dentists?
The most recommended system by dentists is custom trays. Custom trays are an exact mold of your teeth, ensuring that the peroxide is held on the tooth surface long enough for effective whitening. Custom trays also ensure that every surface of the tooth is whitened including in between teeth, up to the gum line, and the backs of the tooth. Whitening the back of the tooth is important because teeth are translucent and will appear lighter from the front if the backs are lightened. This is especially important for smokers.
