How effective is teeth whitening?
Teeth whitening works. When carried out at a dental practice by a professional, it is completely effective. Whitening will make your teeth several shades lighter by removing staining. It does not affect the natural colour of your teeth, but rather removes the staining on them to restore the pearly whites underneath.
It involves gently bleaching your teeth to make them lighter. The process will bring no downtime to your day and is safe if carried out by our dentist in Holborn.
The effectiveness of the whitening process (how white your teeth go) comes down to the bleach content of the gel. More bleach means faster stain removal. But there is a fine line to this, since too much can cause irritation and too little can be ineffective. That’s why most products out there offer different results.
The products your dentist use and what you can use at home are also different. Home whitening kits have a slow-acting gel with a carbamide peroxide content. This gel begins to work over a period of one to two weeks. In a water-based solution, carbamide peroxide breaks down into hydrogen peroxide (which is what our dentists in Holborn use) but the concentration is lower, hence why results show in weeks, not hours.
Some people have had a bad experience with teeth whitening due to failed attempts at home. The truth is most teeth whitening kits you can find on supermarket shelves do not contain anywhere near enough whitening product to make a big difference. By far the most effective teeth whitening solution is with your dentist.
Another risk of using teeth whitening kits at home is the risk of reaction. All whitening gels gently bleach teeth and don’t damage them. However, the gel can cause sore gums, and this is a common side effect where the mouthguard (or tray) doesn’t fit properly. A solution is to pick a kit with a thermo-forming tray, which will mould to your gums.
Another thing you need to beware of is teeth whitening carried out by untrained staff, particularly at beauty salons. Under pressure to deliver results quickly, some salons are using dangerously high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. The quality of application is also an issue. Hydrogen peroxide burns are very serious injuries and swallowing it will cause stomach irritation. Higher concentrations can cause tissue burns.
The message here is by all means try a teeth whitening kit from a reputable brand at home. The results might surprise you. But they do take time. The most effective teeth whitening solution is with a dentist, and our dentist in Holborn can help.
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