Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

welshdent

Personally I am not a fan of power whitening. I think also you are looking at things the wrong way and are wide open to being taken advantage of if the only consideration you have is for it to be cheap. Watch the plastic surgery show on 4 for how they "sell" these types of things. IMO the best form of tooth whitening is one where a dentist makes you custom made spaced trays and you wear them with whitening gel for a few hours a day. The bulk of the "whitening" effect in these power treatments and "laser" ones come from the fact the teeth have dehydrated from being open to the air for the duration of the treatment. The result is short lived. They usually give you "top up trays" which they recommend you wear for a few hours a day ... sound familiar?

The high strength gels can get good results when used by a dentist in a controlled environment but this isnt a one off thing and again usually uses top up trays to refine.

If you want it then do it PROPERLY not cheaply. Make sure you avoid that booth in St Davids like the plague! I cringe every time I walk past that place.

Also if anyone trys to do surgery on you to whiten your teeth ... RUN

kerrydrobertson

Hi Peeps

Just wondering if anyone on here has had teeth whitening done?
I went for my usual check up today and after i get a couple of old fillings replaced he says he is more than happy to help me with the appearance of my teeth as im quite unhappy with them.

He suggested teeth whitening, veneers and replacing silver fillings with white ones as options. He obviously said he would prefer to do what is best for my teeth so i said i didnt want veneers so that got ruled out.

The white fillings that i would need done would cost around £800 for the ones in my mouth and he said while a couple of them need done there is no major benefit of having white rather than silver ones especially int he top of the mouth as you mainly see the bottom teeth.

My question is really is, does the whitening last for only a certain period of time?

i dont smoke, drink wine or coffee or fizzy drinks and try my best to look after my teeth now. Was never taught to as a child and I have paid for it now.

Hope someone has advice etc and will try and ask my dentist some more questions next time im in.

Thanks
x

londondent

kerrydrobertson wrote: »

Hi Peeps

Just wondering if anyone on here has had teeth whitening done?
I went for my usual check up today and after i get a couple of old fillings replaced he says he is more than happy to help me with the appearance of my teeth as im quite unhappy with them.

He suggested teeth whitening, veneers and replacing silver fillings with white ones as options. He obviously said he would prefer to do what is best for my teeth so i said i didnt want veneers so that got ruled out.

The white fillings that i would need done would cost around £800 for the ones in my mouth and he said while a couple of them need done there is no major benefit of having white rather than silver ones especially int he top of the mouth as you mainly see the bottom teeth.

My question is really is, does the whitening last for only a certain period of time?

i dont smoke, drink wine or coffee or fizzy drinks and try my best to look after my teeth now. Was never taught to as a child and I have paid for it now.

Hope someone has advice etc and will try and ask my dentist some more questions next time im in.

Thanks
x

Excellent that you dentist has advised against veneers, seems to have your best interests in mind. With regards to tooth whitening, the results are never really permanant, and longevity will depend on your dietary and oral hygiene habits.

I normally advise patients to have regular top-ups, every couple of months or so (using the custom made trays for one night), to keep their teeth at their brightest.

I've used the home whitening system myself, with great results, and i only top up once every 3-4 months.

Which whitening system is he offering?? is it a home whitening kit, or a in-office laser/power whitening treatment.

kerrydrobertson

Hiya

Thanks so much for replying. They offer the zoom whitening. I think ill maybe try a home whitening kits to start with

welshdent

When you say home whitening do you mean a shop bought one or a custom tray system provided by the dentist?

grey_lady

I've had whitening twice, once by trays and more recently the zoom whitening, have to say I'm disappointed, although the zoom was great for the first couple of days it rapidly went back to it's old shade. The trays didn't have as much of an effect as the zoom. I'm wondering if veneers are the only longterm solution?

Toothsmith

Veneers aren't 'longterm'.

They need changing every few years, and they have a 'biological' cost as well as a financial one.

Biological cost = they cost you a bit more tooth each time they need changing.

'Long term' repeating the whitening process will be the most cost effective, and least damaging solution.

The 'wow' factor of Zoom is largely due to dehydration of the tooth though (The light drys it out, making it look frosty). As the mouth is a wet environment - this doesn't last long.

The problem comes when patients expect magazine-cover smiles. Those smiles exist only as a result of Photoshop. They cannot be mimicked in reality - unless you have a budget of tens of thousands to spend on dentistry on a regular basis and don't mind losing your own natural teeth on the way.

grey_lady

Hhhm, so dentists are allowed to charge for zoom as being a longterm improvement which may only last, as in my case a couple of days before going back to the same shade? Think I might be contacting said dentist to ask for a refund, as they said the shade i had afterwards would stay. Veneers do seem a tad drastic though, so think I will try whitestrips next, at least then I can do it more regularly.

Toothsmith

I would be very careful about how you source those, as they're not licensed in this country - that means that any internet suppliers will get them from 'grey' sources, and they could easily be knock off copies with goodness knows what in them.

welshdent

grey lady dont think thats all us dentists offer. I would never recommend zoom whitening as I think its a nonsense. Custom trays and 10 - 15% carbamide peroxide used for a few hours a day over a week to 2 weeks on the other hand .............

I did mine 2 years ago as a trial and have only felt the need to top it up once since ... for 3 hours over one day