Tooth Whitening

Wouldn’t you love to have whiter teeth?  Join the club.  Teeth naturally come in a variety of colours.  Tobacco and food stains combined with poor brushing habits, can also leave teeth discoloured.  There are many whitening products with varying effectiveness today.

Whitening Options:

1. In Office Bleaching
   Dentist uses a bleaching agent and light source.  It takes 1-2 hours.  It is expensive but produces good results.
    
2. Dentist Dispensed At Home Bleaching
   Dentist makes custom trays for home use.  Patient nightly fills trays with a bleaching agent and wears them while sleeping.  It takes 2-3 weeks but does have good results and is less expensive.  Patients will need to follow-up with their dentist, to make sure things are proceeding well.
    
3. Laser Whitening
   Dentist uses a laser as a light source with a bleaching agent.  It takes 1-2 hours.  It is also expensive but produces good results.
    
4. Over the Counter Products
   Daily use toothpastes, floss, mouth rinses and gum are effective on slight surface stains only, such as those produced by food or tobacco.  They will do nothing to change the natural colour of teeth.  Whitening strips and paint on products can be effective on age-related staining and slight diet-related staining.  Many of these products can also be used to maintain professional tooth whitening results.
    
5. Over the Counter Limited Use Products
   This procedure uses trays and bleach at night.  The trays don’t fit snugly, so bleach may seep out.  It will take longer, but is fairly inexpensive.  Some of these products may not be safe, reliable or even effective.

These procedures won’t provide permanent results.  Touch ups may need to be done periodically.  Some people do report tooth sensitivity and gum irritation that usually subsides in time.