Professional Teeth Whitening
What causes my teeth to look yellow?
Consumed frequently, coffee, tea, red wine, and smoking can all leave teeth looking less than their pearly selves. Staining compounds bind to the outer layers of teeth, turning them yellow and eventually brown. Luckily external staining can be tamed by regular dental cleanings every six months, brushing with a whitening toothpaste, or applying bleaching gel.
Internal staining usually turns teeth gray or shadowed. Causes for internal staining include previous trauma or old root canals. Unfortunately bleaching will not help internal staining. It is best handled case by case in the office.
How does teeth whitening work?
Cleanings and whitening toothpastes both rely on light abrasive pastes to remove external stains. Safe if not used aggressively, this is an easy way to remove light stains.
Perfectly safe when used correctly, whitening gels are peroxide-based, and use oxygen molecules to fight stain. The gel is applied in custom-made trays, which are worn for a set amount of time, based on the strength of the gel. Generally, we start patients with a lower strength gel to gauge sensitivity and rate of color change.
The whitening gel we use at Wheaton Dental has desensitizers incorporated with the whitening compounds, but we still encourage patients to use toothpaste for sensitive teeth, such as Sensodyne, to avoid discomfort.
We are now also offering take home care kits from Opalescence Go. If you are interested in whitening of any kind, give us a call! We will do our best to give you that bright, white smile of your dreams.
