by admin Posted in Teeth Whitening
You can spend upwards of $500 to get your teeth whitened professionally. Do you realize that your teeth can lose all that lovely whiteness in only one month? Find out how to avoid the disappointment and expense of repeat visits to the dentist.
Simple Steps to Keep Teeth White
If you go to the trouble and expense of whitening your teeth, then you are sure to want to keep them that way. There are several simple things you can do to keep your teeth white and beautiful.
What to Avoid
Caffeine, cola, tea, and red wine discolor your teeth. Therefore, you need to avoid them or at least minimize how much of these you drink if you’re serious about keeping your teeth white. The difficulty many of us have, is that we genuinely enjoy these drinks and don’t want to give them up. So, the next best thing is making sure you drink water afterwards. Make sure that the water has washed all the tea, coffee or cola from your teeth when you’ve finished enjoying it.
Smoking is a habit which makes keeping teeth white virtually impossible. Nicotine is well known for yellow staining, and smoking should be avoided if you want to keep your teeth white.
What you Must Do
An obvious way of keeping your teeth white after whitening treatment is regular brushing. There are whitening toothpastes that can be used which will help keep your teeth looking good. When possible, teeth should be brushed after eating. At the very least, your teeth need to be brushed twice a day. Between brushing, rinsing your mouth out with water is the next best thing.
Follow-Up Treatment
Follow-up at-home teeth whitening treatments are also an option to keeping your teeth looking good. How often you need to do these treatments will depend on how well you follow the above advice. Keep in mind that prevention is always better than cure, both in time and money.
Protect Your Investment
Basically, it’s important to protect your investment. Whether you’ve spent substantial money at the dentist, or your own time at home whitening your teeth, you want the effect to last. Following the simple steps above will help you get lasting results.
by admin Posted in Teeth Whitening
One of the biggest concerns people have about teeth whitening is whether it is safe, and whether it can cause damage their teeth? They are good questions that do need answering before going ahead with any teeth whitening procedure, be it at home, or done professionally by a cosmetic dentist.
Why do Teeth Get Discolored?
While the enamel of your teeth appears smooth, it actually isn’t. Viewed under a microscope, the surface of your teeth has a honeycombed appearance. Teeth are covered in tiny tube-like structures, which over time absorb the stains in the food and drink we consume. This results in discoloring of our teeth that no amount of brushing can remove. Teeth whitening has become increasingly popular over recent years to reverse this natural process.
How does Teeth Whitening Work?
The original teeth whiteners were abrasive. These did damage the enamel of teeth, just as any type of cleaner that is an abrasive removes the top layer of a surface in order to clean it. The teeth whitening agents used today are chemicals. They react with the stains in our teeth, and do not erode the enamel. So, using today’s teeth whitening systems, as long as they are used correctly, is not going to damage the enamel of our teeth.
Tooth Sensitivity
One of the things that has caused people to question the safety of getting your teeth whitened, is the fact that teeth whitening can temporarily increase teeth sensitivity. This happens because the bleaching chemicals used to whiten teeth open up the tiny tube structures in the tooth enamel in order to react with the stains. For the time that these tubes are open, which is during and for up to a couple of weeks after whitening, your teeth will be more sensitive. This is temporary, and the degree of sensitivity varies from person to person.
So it’s safe to go ahead with whitening your teeth, you’ll just need to choose which method is right for you, and accept the fact that for some people, a temporary increase in tooth sensitivity is a side effect of achieving white teeth.
by admin Posted in Teeth Whitening
Some reports indicate
at home teeth whitening can actually cause damage to your teeth. Read this information
before you attempt any at home techniques to whiten your teeth.
A Caution about Home Remedies
Many of the products suggested as home remedies for teeth whitening such as oranges, strawberries, and lemons, are acids. Therefore, they are going to eat into the enamel of your teeth if not used in the right way. Since it is very difficult to know for certain the right quantities of these ingredients to use, caution is advised before attempting to whiten your teeth in this way.
Hydrogen peroxide is another ingredient recommended for teeth whitening at home. It is an ingredient that is found in many over the counter products, and also one that dentists use. The problem again lies in knowing the strength to safely use, and how long to leave it on your teeth.
Over the Counter Options
The other options available to you to whiten your teeth at home are in the form of gels, strips and trays. All of these use chemicals which have been tested to react with the stains within the enamel of your teeth. They do not attack the enamel, just the stains. These products are already prepared in the right strength and give you written instructions to follow, so they are definitely a safer option than mixing up something for yourself at home.
There are also whitening toothpastes, of course. They work to differing degrees for different people. They are certainly a good option for keeping your teeth white between whitening sessions.
Be Careful
Be careful about what you use to whiten your teeth. A beautiful smile is a very valuable asset, but it is not worth creating long term damage to your teeth, afterall, you need your teeth to last a lifetime.
