A common question asked: can I whiten or lighten my teeth?
Answer: That depends on a number of factors. Everyone’s teeth as an inherit color or shade, which depends on a number of factors, such as your diet, environmental factors you were exposed to when growing up, the amount of wear on your teeth, and if you were prescribed certain antibiotics as a child, to name a few. Diet can contribute to surface staining, which often is a result of consuming tea, coffee, or soft drinks. Maintaining a proper daily oral hygiene (brushing and flossing) can help combat the surface stains that can accumulate on the plaque and calculus.
When considering whitening or lightening your teeth, various treatment options are available, and we recommend you speak with your general dentist before seeking out treatment options on your own. A reasonable starting point are over the counter whitening/lightening strips, which are manufactured by numerous dental product companies. The benefit of these products are the concentration of the whitening/lightening agents are lower, which decreases the risk of tooth sensitivity. The other benefit to over the counter products are the application time and frequency are completely up to you.
In office treatments are available and can yield faster results, due to higher strength of whitening/lightening agents, and use of customized trays to apply the products. However, the risk for sensitivity can be greater due to the strength of the products.
Signs or symptoms to watch out for include, sloughing of the gum tissues (stringy in consistency and pale in color) can occur if the agents are applied to the gum tissues and not only the teeth. Sensitivity of the teeth can occur which can be transient or longer lasting depending on the frequency and duration of whitening/lightening.
Expectations: teeth have various natural shades and colors to them, having completely stark white teeth is likely not achievable with lightening/whitening alone. Other restorative dentistry treatments such as veneers or crowns may be necessary if that is the result you are looking to achieve.
A healthier smile starts with you.
Take control of your dental health.
We are here to help.