One of the most common requests from both men and women of all ages is how to best whiten their teeth.
It is IMPERATIVE that you get you teeth checked by a dentist prior to having your teeth whitening. There is a risk of permanent damage if teeth whitening products are appliet to:
- Recession areas
- Gingiva
- Active decay
- Plaque/Calculus
- On top of removable staining
Also, it is important to know that any type of filling does NOT whiten along with your teeth, so if you have any type of white filling in a visible area this will not brighten with the rest of your teeth if you try and whiten your teeth. Other types of whitening techniques should be attempted instead such as replacing the filling with a lighter material or masking the tooth with a veneer.
Our preferred strategy for whitening is with custom-at home trays and prescription level dental bleach. This just requires one quick visit where our team will take dental impressions/moulds of your teeth and then a week later you will have custom whitening trays which ensure a safe, comfortable and effective distribution of the prescription dental bleach.
Confidental Dentistry’s professional customised teeth whitening kits are $250
- Two quick, comfortable appointments
- Customed designed for you
- Convenient – complete treatment at home whilst watching tv or as you sleep
- Afford, effective and less sensitivity than in-chair bleaching treatments
At home vs ‘In-chair’ whitening
In recent times in-office and at home devices have introduced a variety of lights (halogen, plasma, LED, lasers, LED + lasers) in association with the gel to accelerate the action of the bleaching gel. It was theorised that the light sources decompose the peroxide faster (by increasing the temperature) increasing the speed of the results.
However, multiple studies have reported that the use of light-sources did not improve the bleaching of teeth, showing an increase in tooth sensitivity and reduce long-term colour stability, especially when the treatment was done in one appointment. Other studies by Torres et al. 2011,29 Domiguez et al. 2011,30 and Luk et al. 2004 explained that the improved whitening was caused by tooth dehydration , associated with the light activation, which explains the poor long-term colour stability.
Therefore we recommend take home trays with prescription dental bleach as the preferred method for whitening you teeth.
It will take 1-2 weeks of repeated at home sessions but you will get long-lasting results safely.