Teeth Whitening Overview

Hi everyone. I welcome you to my teeth whitening blog. Before we begin diving head-first into this subject, I wanted to give you guys a bit of an overview as to what exactly teeth whitening is and how it can help you. There is a substantial amount of hype being spoken about this particular procedure amongst those in the cosmetic dentistry industry, and thus, I wanted to give everyone a more honest look into what the procedure entails and what sort of cost they can expect to piggyback.

Teeth whitening is a procedure that was introduced into the industry not too long ago. Most of these tooth whitening procedures make use of a chemical known as carbamide peroxide. Those of you who know a thing or two about chemistry should be able to tell that it is closely related to hydrogen peroxide. Carbamide peroxide works by penetrating the surface of you teeth. Since teeth are porous, this isn't much of a problem. Once inside, the peroxide begins lightening the color of the teeth, to the point that they are a very bright white.

How long does this procedure take? Well, most whitening procedures are completed within an hour. You might be wondering what goes on during this hour long procedure. Basically, you the minute you walk into the dentist's office for your appointment, you are seated into a chair. The dentist will prepare a mouthguard for you containing the peroxide we discussed earlier. The peroxide is applied to the mouthguard is placed on your teeth and allowed to work its wonders. Some of these procedures make use of a special light to activate the bleaching agent. Once you're setup, the dentist will allow you to sit and wait. This can get extremely boring, as anyone would imagine, thus you need to find something you can occupy your time with.

After the hour is up, the dentist will remove the guard from your teeth and will allow you to take a peek at what he/she has done. The results should be immediate and are almost always spectacular. Your teeth should be several shades whiter. Your dentist will likely tell you that the whitening effect will amplify in the coming days, and fortunately, this is almost always the case. You may also be given some of the whitening gel and a mouthguard for some at-home applications.

There is some noticeable caveats to the tooth whitening procedure. One of them is that it can be costly. Most of the in-office, professional procedures will start at about $500. However, you cannot compare such procedures to the products available at your local pharmacy for $100. You really do get what you pay for. The next downfall comes in the form of whitening longevity, as I would like to call it. The whitening results obtained with a whitening procedure are not permanent. They will fade with time. You can circumvent such fading by improving or maintaining your dental regimen, however, your teeth will eventually return to their original shade. Teeth whitening patients need schedule followup visits to guarantee their smile will continue looking as amazing as it first did.

Paying for whitening can indeed be difficult, as dental insurance companies almost always consider this procedure to be elective. Fortunately, you can try some at-home remedies such as including baking soda in your brushing regimen to see if they help improve the color of your teeth. Sure, these methods won't compare to professional-grade whitening, but they will buy you some time to gather up the necessary funds.