Best Teeth Whitener – The Best Teeth Whitening that Works – The secret here is power whitening.
For decades, Hollywood stars have had their teeth bleached. Recently, the young actress Reese Witherspoon had the procedure before the premiere of her film Legally Blonde – her cosmetic dental surgeon called it a ‘make-or-break smile’ – presumably for her, not him!
Just as our hair and skin color varies, so does teeth color. Very few people’s teeth are actually white – they would look terribly garish if they were. Power-whitening treatment can change the color of your teeth, brightening your own tooth color by an average of two to five shades, taking your teeth back to the apparent pearly whiteness of childhood.
Mostly, teeth are shades of ivory or beige. They can become superficially stained with tea, coffee, cola, cranberry juice, tomato juice, smoke, red wine, curry or beetroot juice (stains, which can be removed by whitening). However, there are four main sources of staining that chemically affect the deeper structure of the tooth and can only be changed by power whitening: ageing, smoking, genetic discoloration and tetracycline stains.
Tetracycline is an antibiotic which, if prescribed before the age of 12, is likely to become incorporated into the structure of growing adult teeth, leading to long-term discoloration which at its worst can make the teeth dark blue, grey or brown. Fortunately, most doctors now know about this side-effect and don’t prescribe tetracycline for children. But many older people remain unaware that their teeth have been affected in this way – and that there is a way to solve this aesthetic problem.
Fortunately, modern techniques for whitening the teeth are now more sophisticated than in the past. Hydrogen peroxide has been used for many years to bleach teeth, but it used to have to be heated to the limit of the client’s tolerance in order to make an effective chemical reaction. This was quite painful and took several hours.
Nowadays, we have much quicker treatments using a more sophisticated chemical formula which is chemically more stable and involves no pain (although there can be a bit of sensitivity for a day or two to extremes of hot and cold). There are no other reported side-effects. The whitening process doesn’t weaken, damage or make the tooth thinner. Treated teeth are no more susceptible to decay or disease after treatment.
The gums are protected with a rubber guard which also helps keep the lips out of the way, and each tooth is coated with hydrogen peroxide jelly, before being heated with a light for a few minutes to achieve the bleaching process before being washed off with water.
At a chemical level, the yellow chloride ions in the teeth, which give the tooth its color, are being swapped with a white ion in the hydrogen peroxide gel. The molecules exchange places – exactly the same process occurs when you dye your hair. At the same time, the more superficial food stains are also removed by oxidation.
The results could last for approximately six years and the treatment costs from £600, making it the most cost-effective way of making a dramatic change to your smile. Bear in mind that teeth can feel sensitive to the first two days after treatment.
Some British cosmetic dental surgeons follow the treatment up with a Hollywood-style ‘take-home tray’ – a plastic mould modeled on the client’s teeth which is filled with a gentler carbamide peroxide bleaching agent each night and left in while asleep. This is a seven- to ten-day treatment, but take care not to overdo it. You don’t want your teeth to look unnaturally white. These are also sold separately from £350 as a budget option.
There are other ‘home’ kits you can buy over-the-counter to bleach your teeth in the privacy of your own bathroom. They contain a very weak solution, are fairly ineffective and don’t give good value for money. A recent article by an American professor who tested these kits found they have a very low pH, which means a very high acidity, leading to potential damage to teeth, fillings and even to crowns.
The other drawback is that, because you don’t have a custom-made mouth guard, most of the bleaching chemical leaks out and doesn’t stay in contact with the teeth. This can lead to patchy results, as well as pain in the throat and stomach due to swallowing the product. However, most importantly, there is no control over color.
The most dramatic changes are created with the light-activated bleaching agents available only from a dentist, who should carefully protect your gums from temporary discoloration.
