Dr Gatti's Blog a Lawrence Dentist Reflections

If you want to whiten your teeth, the best place to start is with a healthy mouth. In order to achieve the great, long lasting teeth whitening, it is important that you are free of decay, gum tissue disease or cracked teeth. The number one complaint while whitening is tooth sensitivity, which can be exacerbated by all of the aforementioned.

Begin the process with a dental check up. We can discuss all of the options, be it over the counter teeth whitening strips, professional take home custom trays or in office systems and help you decide what will work best for you. We will first determine why your teeth are discolored – injury, stains from tobacco, antibiotic treatment as child, or other causes- then the suitable solution can be advised. If it is also important to realize that only natural teeth will be lightened. Existing crowns, veneers, fillings and other bonded materials will not change color with the whitening gels.

I would also be cautious of tooth whiteners advertised on the web and infomercials. The American Dental Assoc. is concerned about the safety of tooth-whitening chemicals and procedures that are preformed without the care or supervision of a licensed dentist. There is currently legislation being proposed that will eliminate tooth whitening Kiosks that are appearing in malls and salons. Although these facilities may be staffed with people wearing scrubs or laboratory coats who may look line health professionals, most often times that is not the case. In fact, the individuals staffing these facilities most likely have zero health care training and no license to provide health care services. Bottom line, we have been doing this for a long time. We can help advise you of the possible pitfalls and more importantly how they can be avoided. If you are looking for ways to brighten and lighten your teeth and smile, we can help you get the best possible results.

Tags: Smiles, Teeth whitening

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Cosmetic Dentistry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.