There are many different types of procedures used to bleach or whiten your teeth. Tooth whitening has been around for many years and it is safe and effective for most dental patients.
We have found that the base color of your tooth is what determines your outcome. In general, teeth bleaching works best on teeth that have a yellow base color and worst on grays and brown combinations. The gray (tetracycline e.g.) either will lighten very slowly or not at all. If you have whitened your teeth with Crest bleaching strips (e.g.) your color change may not be as dramatic.
Whitening toothpastes.
We have found very little change with this type of product. Whitening is determined by concentration of the tooth bleaching product and time on contact. The whitening toothpastes are neither concentrated nor stay on your tooth very long. We have noticed is ...more tooth sensitivity with their use.
Whitening strips.
Tooth bleaching with strips are effective. Over the counter strips have lower concentrations of bleaching product and are not very long. Teeth whitening strips appear to bleach the front six (6) well but nothing further back (to short).
Tres white bleaching trays.
Best described as a combination of whitening strips and take home trays. Tres white appears to be effective in whitening teeth.
Custom take home tray tooth whitening trays.
A very good way to bleach teeth and still considered the gold standard of teeth whitening. Conditioning the enamel seems to be important in whitening your teeth. Bleaching teeth is a time factor... the more time the bleaching solution is on the tooth... the stronger the concentration... the better the result is.
One-hour-tooth whitening.
A popular method of tooth whitening, Time involved in teeth whitening is between 1 and 1.5 hours. Much more concentrated solution for a shorter period of time. More sensitivity of the teeth likely and the peroxide solution does leak under the rubber dam or light cured dental dam and creates small "white" sores that go away. Results are good but not always great. And follow up with Tres white or take home trays likely.
Combination of treatment... one hour whitening AND take home trays!
Combining treatment include one-hour whitening with custom made take home trays. This gives us the best result by far. Disadvantage is you need to wear the trays and most dental patients want to whiten their teeth in one hour and specifically do not want trays. Time is the issue... base color of your teeth... is the issue.
Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. H Candace DeLapp are dentist in the Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree and Parker area that is part of the greater Denver area. Both doctors teach part-time and the University of Colorado School of Dentistry and maintain a private practice in dentistry with special interests in cosmetic and restorative dentistry. More information about both doctors can be seen at http://www.cottonwooddental.com and a new web site undergoing frequent improvements at http://www.cosmetic-aesthetic-dentistry.com. Dr's DeLapp second web site allow more editable content and describes dental procedures in more detail. Please feel free to visit both.
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Wow! I didn't know that there are several types of tooth whitening. I haven't even tried the home whitening kits. I've always visited a Bartlett dentist for teeth whitening. This dentist (Bartlett) is great and the procedure really made my teeth pearly white.
I guess, I'll try those kits as a maintenance option for my white teeth.