Teeth whitening is a growing market in the UK along with adult orthodontics (braces) as patients strive for straighter whiter teeth! Here we will discuss the different aspects and types of tooth whitening available along with our expert advice and we will go onto discuss adult orthodontics in the straightening teeth section
Why Tooth Whitening?Feel teeth have discoloured over time/previous smoking Teeth have always been more yellow/grey than you would like Improve confidence when talking to people or smiling Getting married or mother of the bride pre-wedding (very popular) one or more teeth have discoloured due to previous root treatments as a result of trauma or caries (decay) Have just discovered its possibilities whereas previously unaware |
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Types of Teeth Whitening
1. Home tooth whitening
2. In surgery (sometimes called Laser) tooth whitening
3. Internal tooth whitening (for whitening individual root treated discoloured teeth from the inside of the tooth usually; is possible in surgery or at home)
Home tooth whitening |
Laser tooth whitening |
This is where the following stages are carried out
1. Patient assessed suitable for tooth whitening and teeth cleaned 2. Before photos may be taken 3. Impressions (moulds) of your upper and lower teeth are taken and made into stone models of your teeth 4. These are used to make individual custom plastic whitening trays which fit over your teeth 5. You return to the dentist, the trays are tried in 6. You are given a whitening kit including instructions and tubes of whitening gel
7. Your dentist will go through all instructions and demonstrate how and what to do 8. Generally you then take away are wear the trays with the gel in them every night for 2-4 weeks and sometimes longer 9. Results are reviewed at a subsequent appointment and further whitening carried out if wanted 10. Final photos then may be taken to assess and monitor change in tooth shade. |
This is where the following stages are carried out
1. Full assessment of suitability is carried out by dentist and teeth cleaned 2. Before photos may be taken 3. Some form of protective gel is placed on gums and something is placed in mouth to move lips out of the way such as optragate in picture below 4. Eye protection glasses will also be placed
5. Strong (usually 6% Hydrogen Peroxide) light activated whitening gel is applied to teeth to be whitened (some argue the light activation makes minimal difference to final result) 6. The gel is left for an amount of time then washed off and repeated a couple of times, the entire process will usually take 1-2 hours 7. The whitening gives immediate results but will often need following up with home whitening anyway in order to give lasting results. 8. Final photos often taken before leaving surgery. |
Internal tooth whitening
1. Here, after your tooth has been root treated, the filling is removed out of the back of the tooth (usually front tooth)
2. Either trays are made and you put whitening gel in them as well as in the back of tooth; which will lighten it from the inside and outside
3. Or a gel soaked piece of material is sealed inside the tooth and then you return to have this replaced a few times until the tooth is at the shade you want, followed by home bleaching as described above (the gel used is generally the 10% carbamide peroxide or 6% HP but your dentist will decide)
2. Either trays are made and you put whitening gel in them as well as in the back of tooth; which will lighten it from the inside and outside
3. Or a gel soaked piece of material is sealed inside the tooth and then you return to have this replaced a few times until the tooth is at the shade you want, followed by home bleaching as described above (the gel used is generally the 10% carbamide peroxide or 6% HP but your dentist will decide)
Home tooth whitening Vs Laser whitening
The maximum gel concentration used by dentists and trained dental professionals is 6% Hydrogen peroxide, this is a recent law and so higher than this is now illegal, it is also illegal for someone other than dentists or dental professionals to undertake tooth whitening and so be very careful if you choose to have whitening done elsewhere e.g. in beauty salons as it may be cheaper to buy but may well be illegal and unregulated/unsafe. If in doubt just ask your own dentist. Our dentists preferred and recommended method for the vast majority of cases is home whitening, for the following reasons:
Advantages of the Laser/In surgery whitening
More and more surgeries are getting rid of laser whitening and just focusing on home whitening due to the superior longer lasting results and reduced expense to the patients; your dentist will be able to tell you what they offer and go through instructions with you again.
- Lower concentration gel used so generally less sensitivity following procedure
- Less risk of any unexpected damage to gums or teeth again due to the lower concentrations
- Longer lasting results than laser whitening in our experience
- Patient is given control and responsibility for their own whitening at home and so greater involvement in their procedure
- Less expensive to patient as laser whitening will require home whitening as well anyway
Advantages of the Laser/In surgery whitening
- Results same day, good if need teeth whitened for that same weekend although generally will be rather sensitive for 48 hours or so following procedure
- Does not require compliance from patients of remembering or committing to wearing trays every night for 2 or more weeks.
More and more surgeries are getting rid of laser whitening and just focusing on home whitening due to the superior longer lasting results and reduced expense to the patients; your dentist will be able to tell you what they offer and go through instructions with you again.
Different Whitening Systems and what you should know
As with anything, dentists will use different companies to supply their Home whitening kits and so your kit may be different from your friends who had whitening done at a different surgery. The different companies produce their own gels and all work slightly differently. Some have desensitising agents in the gel to help prevent sensitivity, some work a little faster than others, some will say 6% Hydrogen Peroxide while other will say 10% or 16% Carbamide Peroxide.
I would not get drawn in by these differing terms and ingredients. All these gels will have been approved for dental use in the UK and the dentists generally have tried a few different ones and settled on using the one that gives them the best results for their patients. Cost of treatment varies between practices also and will usually be anywhere between £200 and £800 for home whitening and £450 - £1000 for in surgery whitening which may be more depending on whether you have a home whitening kit also. The cost incorporates the system used, the whitening trays, casting models and surgery time including review appointments and so on. Each dentist will have worked out costings based on their systems and some will have introductory offers or offers if having other treatments. There are a number of high street whitening treatments available along with hundreds of whitening toothpastes. Results with these are usually minimal if any at all from my experience of discussing them with patients but I do get some patients that swear by certain high street treatments. My advice would be to try a high street whitening toothpaste or gel (probably from boots or superdrug to be safe and not online) if you want and then let us know if you get good or bad result in the comments section below. In general I would expect very little change from these kits as the concentration of whitening agent will be very low if existent at all. |
Extra useful points
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