Teeth Whitening

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Home Teeth Whitening Pros And Cons

It wasn't that many years ago when the only way a person could have his or her teeth whitened was through a costly in-office whitening treatment by a dental professional. Today the situation is very different. In response to consumer demand fueled in part by society's ever increasing obsession with looking and feeling better, there is now a growing supply of home teeth whitening kits and products on the market available to those who are looking for a more affordable alternative.

Home whitening is relatively inexpensive compared with professional treatment. Lower costs, coupled with the convenience of an in-home procedure, have combined to make home teeth whitening an increasingly popular cosmetic dental procedure among people looking for whiter teeth and a brighter smile.

Whitening products for use at home include whitening strips, sprays, toothpastes, and brush-on gels. While simple, convenient, and inexpensive, these products vary in their effectiveness and there are limitations to each. A much better option is a whitening kit, available in both prescription and over-the-counter strengths.

The prescription strength kit, though more expensive than the over-the-counter option, is probably the better choice since it produces better results. Provided by your dentist, and used under his supervision, a prescription strength whitening kit usually consist of mouth trays that you fill with whitening gel. The gel typically contains carbamide peroxide as its bleaching agent.

After filling the tray with the bleaching gel, you place it on your teeth. A typical application can last as long as five hours and needs to be repeated several times over a one to two week period.

The major drawbacks associated with using a home whitening kit include the time needed for each treatment, the number of treatments required, and the fact that it can take several weeks to see results. Still, the lower cost makes this an attractive whitening alternative for many.

Another obstacle to home teeth whitening for some include the safety considerations involved. Teeth whitening in general, and home whitening in particular, are recommended only for those who have healthy teeth and gums to begin with. For this reason it is highly advisable to visit your dentist for a checkup before beginning any home whitening treatment, otherwise painful and potentially permanent damage to your teeth and gums may occur.

For most people looking for whiter teeth and a brighter smile, the decision whether or not to consider home whitening primarily boils down to a question of cost. Professional whitening performed in a dentist's office can cost hundreds of dollars, and even as much as $1000 for a laser whitening procedure, while in contrast a home teeth whitening kit can cost as little as $20 or $30. For many it's not a difficult decision at all.

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About the Author

Tony James publishes the Best Teeth Whitening Guide. Visit his site to learn more about Home Teeth Whitening.

A Few Secrets About Teeth Whitening

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Within the last 10 years the field of teeth whitening, both in the dental office and at home, has changed immensely. Essentially, there are two different methods to get whiter teeth: dental (in-office) whitening, and an at home treatment. Discover a few secrets about teeth whitening that your dentist hopes I'll never tell you!

METHOD #1: DENTAL (IN-OFFICE) TEETH WHITENING

I can tell you from first-hand experience, dentists LOVE the patient who wants to have a teeth whitening procedure in the dental office. Back in the early '90's there was only one option available.

Your dentist would make molds of your teeth, send them off to a lab, and in 5-10 days receive back your custom fitted teeth whitening mouthpiece. Then you would sit in the dental chair for 1-2 hours, with these plastic teeth whitening molds filled with peroxide (at a very low concentration) pressed against your teeth and gums.

After 3-4 visits, your teeth would be officially declared whiter (and usually they were), and you would be sent home with a nice $500 - $1,000 bill to pay. And with whiter teeth of course.

I'll be the first to admit, dental office teeth whitening has come a long way in the past 10 years. Now the most popular teeth whitening dental office procedure known as Laser Bleaching (or Power Bleaching, Argon Bleaching, etc.) is a shorter process. Basically this teeth whitening procedure consists of the application of a concentrated peroxide gel onto your teeth, then for the next hour you sit in a dental chair with your mouth wide open, while a special light (usually argon) is shined onto the teeth whitening paste that in turn chemically reacts with the peroxide to complete the teeth whitening process in as short a time period as possible.

This teeth whitening procedure does work. Although, many dentists say that you get a whiter smile by repeated tray applications because the teeth whitening peroxide stays in contact with your teeth for longer periods of time. The downside is that you still get stuck with that fat $500 - $1,000 bill (at least for the good teeth whitening procedure).And you still need to either come back 6 months later for another teeth whitening (excuse me - a touch up!), or you're given some take home whitening items. Why then did you spend $500 - $1,000 dollars for an in-office teeth whitening procedure?

Fortunately, as most other things in life, technology stepped in to make teeth whitening easier and more affordable!

METHOD #2: HOME TEETH WHITENING

I'll say this once just to get it out in the open, it's now possible (in almost all cases) to achieve "dental office" quality teeth whitening, from the comfort of your own home! "At-Home" teeth whitening has taken a bite out of (sorry for the pun) the "in-office" power bleaching systems, where millions of corporate advertising dollars now compete with the comfort of teeth whitening at home.

And rightly so...

Up until a few years ago, teeth whitening was a fairly complex process. The hard part was making those fitted mouthpieces for each patient, for this reason alone, home teeth whitening was not an option for most people.

ESSENTIALLY, THERE ARE 3 DIFFERENT HOME TEETH WHITENING OPTIONS AVAILABLE

TEETH WHITENTING OPTION #1 - BRUSH-ON WHITENING

Brush-on teeth whitening in principal is a great concept, just brush on the formula, allow it to dry on your teeth, and let is stay on your teeth overnight. Sounds simple, right?

In reality, brush-on teeth whitening is designed for the segment of the public that is in love with shortcuts (in other words, for those people who don't want to spend the time to do it right the first time). Brush-on teeth whitening has TWO MAIN FLAWS:

1. When you brush on the teeth whitening formula, it relies on the premise that it will dry on your teeth. This is great in principle, but if you get the teeth whitening formula wet (i.e. from saliva or from licking your teeth) then it becomes REALLY easy to rub off parts of the formula. And guess what happens if you rub off only part of the teeth whitening formula? You got it - you don't get an even whitening result! It turns out patchy and blotchy.

2. The second flaw with most brush-on teeth whitening as I see it, is the ingredients. If you look at the ingredient list of the leading brush-on whitener, you'll see the first ingredient is alcohol. If you've read my ebook "The Bad Breath Bible" (http://www.TheraBreath.com/web/art/l/badbreath.asp) then you already know that alcohol is terrible for your breath! Actually, I'm sure the reason why they've added alcohol to their teeth whitening formula is because it's needed as a desiccant (something that dries out the formula so that it supposedly stays on your teeth at night). However, that still doesn't diminish the effect it can have on your gums and your breath. Also, most of these brush-on teeth whitening formulas contain glycerin which literally sucks the moisture out from the enamel of your teeth and it's the primary cause of most tooth sensitivity from teeth whitening.

TEETH WHITENING OPTION #2 - STRIPS YOU STICK ON YOUR TEETH

The second most common type of home teeth whitening is using whitening strips. The main lure of this home teeth whitening option is the strips' simplicity of use, they're easy to apply and no preparation is necessary. Again, everybody loves shortcuts, right? Unfortunately, once again that's exactly the type of teeth whitening you end up getting! Let me explain...

Strips that stick on your teeth usually consist of an upper strip and a lower strip each pressed against the outer surface of your teeth. Now think about this for a second...Are your teeth completely flat? Of course not - they have recesses and grooves, particularly between each tooth. Well imagine you're painting a fence, and you just slapped paint on the outside, without taking the time to paint in the grooves between each wooden board. That fence would look pretty funny wouldn't it? Nicely painted on the outside, but in the grooves between each wooden board, still dark and dingy, with all of the old paint showing.

When you use teeth whitening strips, the same thing can easily happen to your teeth if you're not careful. The whiter your teeth become, the more pronounced those dingy cracks seem! Eventually it can end up looking like you have small gaps between your teeth. Definitely not the desired result!

TEETH WHITENING OPTION #3 - TRAYS WITH BLEACHING GELS

Trays with bleaching gels still provide the best combination of the most affordable and most efficient teeth whitening available. Since I'm a dentist, I can let you in on a few little secrets (some secrets which most dentists would shoot me for telling you since it costs them thousands in lost income)!

First, most of the teeth whitening gels available at your dentist are exactly the same. There is very little difference from one dentist to another, that's because the gels are formulated by a small number of manufacturers.

Second, most of the teeth whitening gels available at retail stores are of very poor quality. They've been sitting in a warehouse or on a truck for who knows how long, and because they are designed to be "low cost" they have very low concentrations of active ingredients. Older teeth whitening gels use a concentration of only 16% of carbamide peroxide.

Third, the one thing in common between dental office and "store" teeth whitening gels is that they both use glycerin as a carrying agent. Now there is nothing wrong with glycerin by itself. It is not dangerous in any way. However, when mixed with carbamide peroxide, the glycerin is used to draw water out of the enamel in order to speed up the whitening process. This is what causes the most common side effect of teeth whitening - sensitive teeth! Therefore, you're going to want to find a teeth whitening product that does not use a glycerin base.

ARMED WITH THIS NEW TEETH WHITENING KNOWLEDGE, NOW WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

There are four key components I recommend for making sure you get the best possible teeth whitening results every time.

1. Immediately before whitening, brush your teeth for two minutes with an oxygenating toothpaste combined with the finest natural polishing agents AND aloe vera to strengthen your gums and prevent any sensitivity. This way you're sure that the whitening gel directly contacts your tooth enamel (instead of dental plaque).

2. Use form-fitting mouth trays that are fitted to your specific bite. Make sure they fit snugly around each tooth, and at all points they press firmly around the sides of your teeth and gums. The best home teeth whitening systems use a moldable tray system that contains mouthpieces which you can actually fit to your mouth. You mold them by soaking them for a few seconds in warm water, then you press the plastic up (or down) against your teeth and gums. When the plastic cools you have a nice soft plastic mouthpiece that is fitted to the curves of your particular smile.

3. You should use as strong of teeth whitening gel as possible to ensure that the time your teeth are in contact with the whitening gel is well spent. Use a 21% carbamide peroxide concentrated teeth whitening gel that is formulated specifically to reduce the sensitivity to your teeth and gums, (in other words - NO glycerin!). This percentage of concentration also means a whiter result in a shorter period of time. Finally, a flavored teeth whitening gel helps - why not make the experience as pleasant as possible? No need for it to taste bad!

4. Immediately after your teeth whitening treatment, enhance the effect by using an oxygenating oral rinse. Remember, make sure not to use a mouthwash that contains alcohol, as this can actually chemically curtail the bleaching effect, not to mention it dries your mouth out!

I recommend following this teeth whitening system for 5 days in a row. You can even do the top and bottom arch separately for comfort if you prefer. After that...you'll have a noticeably whiter smile - GUARANTEED!

Article Source:http://www.articles321.com

Dr. Harold Katz, founder of the California Breath Clinics, is the leading expert on the topics of bad breath and teeth whitening. For your FREE 4 page, color guide to teeth whitening visit: http://www.TheraBreath.com/web/art/l/teethwhitening.asp

Basics of Teeth Bleaching

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The human tooth is a very resilient part of the human body, as they for the most part last our entire lifespan with proper care and cleaning. However, it’s absolutely essential to make sure you do care for your teeth. Otherwise, tooth decay and plaque can set in. No matter how diligently you brush, floss and care for your teeth stains can still occur because of the foods you eat or the beverages you drink. Coffee, tea, and sugar are all well-known foods that cause tooth stains. Teeth bleaching, a form of tooth whitener treatment, can slow or even reverse these stains.

Teeth bleaching is usually done with products or chemicals that react with the plaque, loosening the bond it has developed with the teeth. The reason teeth bleaching is needed is that over time plaque ends up hardening and literally sticking to the teeth, so it almost becomes part of the tooth. Most teeth bleaching products are made of hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide. These react with the plaque to break it free of the teeth so it can be brushed off with a normal toothbrush and flossed away. Plaque building in between the teeth can cause yellowing and decay, and teeth bleaching can reverse this process.

Difference Between Teeth Bleaching and Teeth Whitening

Although many people use the term bleaching to refer to every whitening treatment it doesn’t always apply. There is a legal difference between teeth bleaching and teeth whitening. The FDA’s definition of teeth bleaching is any treatment or chemical that can make teeth whiter than their natural shade. It’s a common treatment to movie stars. On the other hand, teeth whitening is simply the removal of existing plaque and tartar to restore the teeth to their best possible natural condition. Granted, this isn’t going to make as striking a difference as true bleaching would, but it’s still a very noticeable change.

Teeth bleaching operates on the enamel of the teeth. Normally, tooth enamel is the consistency of porcelain, but over time acid from sugar and other foods eat away and the plaque than has the opportunity to get inside your teeth.

If you want to really make yourself have a dazzling smile, you can seek out teeth bleaching as a treatment, but it can be pricy. The best way to avoid having to each this stage is to keep track of what foods you eat, how well you care for your teeth and how often you get a regular cleaning.