Teeth whitening is one of the most popular cosmetic dentistry treatments offering a quick, non-invasive and affordable way to enhance a smile.
Who doesn’t like a pearly white smile ? Whitening treatments are available to satisfy every budget, time frame, and temperament.
Whether in the form of professionally administered one-hour whitening sessions at a dental office
What causes tooth staining?
Age – there is a direct correlation between tooth colour and age. By the fifties, the teeth have absorbed a host of stubborn stains which can prove difficult to remove.
Starting colour – We are all equipped with an inborn tooth colour that ranges from yellow-brownish to greenish-grey and intensifies over time. Yellow-brown is generally more responsive to bleaching than green-grey.
Translucency and thickness – These are also genetic traits that become more pronounced with age.
Teeth that are more thinner and transparent – most notably the front teeth – have less of the pigment that is necessary for bleaching.
Transparency cannot be corrected with any form of teeth whitening.
Smoking habits – Nicotine leaves brownish deposits that slowly soak into the tooth structure and cause intrinsic discoloration.
Drugs and chemicals – Excessive consumption of fluoride causes fluorosis (discoloration marked by the appearance of faint white marks on the teeth) and associated areas of white mottling.
What are whitening options?
- In-office whitening – Significant colour change in a short period of time is the major benefit of in-office whitening.
- Take-home kits – Many dentists are of the opinion that professionally dispensed take-home kits can produce the best results over the long haul.
Check first how white can you go –
Results are subjective, varying considerably from person to person. Many are immediately delighted with their outcome, while others may be disappointed.
Shade guides –
In dental offices before and after tooth color is typically measured with shade guides. These are hand-held displays of a wide range of tooth colors.
Whitening treatment procedure at Mint dental
In-office teeth whitening procedure involves following steps
- Prepping the teeth – Your teeth will likely be given a prophylactic clinic to clear away plaque and debris that have collected on the surface and between the teeth.
- A dental exam will be performed
- Photos may be taken of your teeth, and their colour measured on the shade guide. This provides a benchmark for assessing your progress.
- A gentle retractor is inserted into the mouth, exposing all the esthetic zone teeth.
- A liquid rubber dam or hardening resin is painted onto the gum tissue to protect against any irritation caused by the bleaching gel.
- A bleaching gel containing hydrogen peroxide is applied to the esthetic zone teeth and kept on for approximately 15 to 30 minutes.
- The bleaching gel is suctioned or washed off, and fresh gel is applied for one or more additional periods of 15 to 30 minutes.
- Some whitening treatments incorporate an intense light that is focused on the teeth and is said to activate or enhance the bleaching process. Opinions vary as to whether this light improves the bleaching outcome.
- Between gel applications, the teeth are checked to see how well they have whitened, and whether more bleach needs to be applied.
- After the final gel application, the cheek retractors are removed, the patient rinses and the immediate post-treatment shade change is measured. The teeth may whiten by as few as two to three shades or as many as eight (out of a total of 16). Part of the whitening effect is due to dehydration during the bleaching process, which makes the teeth look whiter than their true new color. That color will emerge after a couple of days.
If a satisfactory level of whitening hasn’t been achieved, your dentist may recommend follow-up in-office bleaching at a future date, and/or a regimen of take-home bleaching trays.
What are your best options?
Mint Dental is one of the most trusted dental offices in gold coast Australia. Get a whitening treatment done by the experts in lesser time and in cost affordable way.
We at Mint Dental take care of all your oral health needs. Head to our website to see all the other services that we provide and Book your first dental appointment with us now!
