Have yellowish or ugly stains in your teeth that just won’t go away with a toothbrush? Well, Peter Jaret of the online medical publication WebMD says that you can take matters into your own hands, thanks to the various tooth whitening products sold commercially nowadays. While there’s certainly no stopping you from buying these whiteners, Jaret says that sometimes a thorough dental treatment done by a professional is a better idea.
For example, people with sensitive teeth tend to have adverse reactions like gum irritation to over-the-counter whitening products. In addition, commercial products are generally slower and less-effective than an in-office treatment. In fact, the toothpastes and whitening gels that you buy are usually more suited to removing mild discolorations and not-so-hardened plaque rather than help you clean your pearly whites. For everything else, a complete tooth whitening treatment from a dentist is the best course of action to take. The WebMD article explains:
“The most common in-office whitening procedure involves custom-made trays filled with bleaching solution that fit firmly over teeth. Because your dentist supervises the procedure, a stronger bleaching solution can be used than what’s found in home kits. He may recommend doing the entire procedure in the office. In that case, a light or heat source may be used to speed up the process. As an alternative, you may be fitted for custom-made whitening trays that can be used at home.”
Thankfully, there isn’t a shortage of professionals who can perform this procedure, like Dr. James DeFinnis of Back Mountain Dental, a renowned dentist in Dallas, PA. Sensitive teeth is not a challenge for such dental practitioners, who can simply modify their bleaching formula accordingly.
The exact whitening treatment tends to vary from one professional to another. Although gels on mouth trays are the most common approach, it’s not unusual for a cosmetic dentist from Dallas, PA to use lasers. Generally-speaking, the true purpose of the treatment isn’t to remove all the plaque, stains, and discolorations from the teeth, but rather to make the dentin inside of them appear whiter again.
Most of the imperfections on teeth usually occur in the outer layer called the enamel, while the inner layer or dentin remains intact. Food, drink, medicine, and other stuff that are often placed in the mouth tend to blur the enamel’s color and the dentin, by extension. Considering that it takes a lot of effort to even reach the dentin, it’s suddenly more obvious why commercial teeth whiteners aren’t always effective.
