What you need to know about teeth whitening and is it possible to whiten your teeth at home

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If nature has not rewarded you with snow-white teeth or you have spoiled the ideal state of affairs with bad habits, do not be discouraged. Everything can be fixed. Moreover, getting a white-toothed smile is real not only in the dentist's office, but also at home while watching your favorite movie. How? By Julia Clouda, head of a popular resource about dentistry.

Do I need to prepare for teeth whitening?

To whiten teeth, no matter how simple this procedure may seem, you should prepare in advance. And only a qualified dentist knows what exactly needs to be done for this. First of all, you cannot avoid professional cleaning that removes plaque and stones. Otherwise, whitening will not help. Of course, all carious cavities should be healed and chronic diseases should be brought into remission.

In preparation for whitening, your doctor will likely prescribe remineralizing therapy, show you how to brush your teeth properly, and tell you which foods to avoid.

Tea, coffee, beets, dark berries, red wine have an enamel-coloring effect.

A colorless diet within a week after the procedure is especially important, otherwise the effect will be the opposite of the expected one: the dyes will easily penetrate under the porous enamel, and after its restoration it will be much more difficult to remove them from there.

And of course, if you smoke, teeth whitening seems like a very dubious undertaking. If you do not give up this addiction, the enamel will soon darken again.

Are there any contraindications for teeth whitening?

The procedure will not be carried out for children under 16 years old, as well as for pregnant and lactating women. Increased abrasion of teeth, periodontitis, periodontal disease and other gum diseases call whitening into question. In addition, among the contraindications are unhealed caries (if the whitening gel gets into the carious cavity, you will experience severe pain) and wearing braces. And if you correct the bite with the help of aligners, then nothing prevents you from resorting to home professional whitening.

If you suffer from tooth hypersensitivity, then you probably should not do bleaching, as it itself can provoke this problem. However, with appropriate preparation - with remineralizing therapy before and fluoridation of the enamel after - whitening is possible. But only after consulting a doctor and with his consent.

Is there a difference between home and office whitening?

First of all, you should divide whitening into professional and non-professional. Professional can be both office (office) and home, and can combine both of these stages.

It is important to understand that in-room whitening is characterized by a more aggressive effect: gels contain 30 percent or more of active ingredients (carbamide or hydrogen peroxide), while homemade gels work more sparingly, but, of course, not so quickly. They contain 7-10% hydrogen peroxide and 16-22% carbamide.

The doctor decides which whitening to recommend for you, evaluating the condition of the oral cavity and general health. That is why we do not recommend buying whitening systems for home use at the pharmacy on our own. And if you have already purchased one, be sure to show it to your dentist to avoid complications: tooth hypersensitivity, gum inflammation, enamel damage.

Unfortunately, even in the case of in-office whitening, the result is unpredictable: it depends on the individual characteristics of the organism and existing chronic diseases.

For example, teeth of patients with fluorosis are practically not whitened. Such patients are recommended restoration: veneers, lumineers, crowns.

Are there any benefits of home whitening?

First of all, it is worth highlighting the price: it is often significantly lower than the cost of in-room whitening. In addition, home whitening is more gentle. But you have to be disciplined. Once or twice a day for several weeks, you should put on a mouth guard and wear it for the prescribed time. Otherwise, the desired effect cannot be achieved.

If you are not confident in your abilities or want to get serious results in a short time, consider the salon option.

Are folk remedies effective?

In order to explain why folk bleaching agents do not work, you need to understand the meaning of the salon procedure. And it does not affect the enamel of the teeth, but the dentin - the soft layer located under the enamel. Folk remedies for teeth whitening simply cannot penetrate so deeply and act on the surface. The enamel itself is transparent, but the plaque that accumulates on its surface can be colored stronger or weaker. It is with him that salt, soda, activated carbon and calcium gluconate fight.

Some of the folk remedies are innocent, others, such as soda, can seriously scratch the enamel, because these are abrasives that literally rip off plaque from the surface of the tooth.

Yes, teeth sometimes brighten, but only as a result of getting rid of plaque, nothing more. And if you thoroughly clean your teeth with a paste, brush, floss, use a rinse aid and regularly visit your dentist for preventive purposes, then you will not even notice the result of such a folk procedure.

Separately, it should be said about hydrogen peroxide. Yes, it is used in both salon and home remedies for whitening, but in a gel it is not more than 10% in combination with caring, restorative and analgesic components that can reduce tooth sensitivity. Pure peroxide can severely burn the mucous membranes of the mouth.

If you still want to take advantage of folk advice, we can recommend rinsing with very strongly diluted lemon juice, applications from lemon zest, strawberry or strawberry puree. However, do not expect miracles from them. These funds will not be able to significantly whiten teeth.

Teeth whitening is a serious procedure that requires a detailed examination of the entire oral cavity, which can only be performed by a doctor. Do not self-medicate in any case, especially when it comes to teeth, because many problems associated with digestion or even the spine are caused by an incorrect bite, increased abrasion of teeth, and enamel defects.

Folk remedies and systems for whitening, bought uncontrollably at the pharmacy, may not only not help, but also harm the teeth. And if you don’t take care of your oral cavity: you don’t visit a hygienist once every six months, smoke, drink a lot of tea and coffee, brush your teeth poorly, then even salon whitening can only bring frustration.