Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

Argyll_2

I didn't realise it was that cheap here! In that case I'll see about having it done here. The problem is I have a crown right as one of my front teeth. How would this be dealt with when bleaching?

Terrylw1

Hi Toothsmith,

How does it work on peoples teeth who are naturally yellow from birth? Does it just lighten the yellow?

Toothsmith

Argyll wrote: »

I didn't realise it was that cheap here! In that case I'll see about having it done here. The problem is I have a crown right as one of my front teeth. How would this be dealt with when bleaching?

If the crown is a good match, then really, don't get it done.

The teeth will go lighter, the crown won't, so it will look like a dead tooth in the middle of your smile.

If you simply MUST have it done dahling, then you will have to factor in the cost of changing the crown to match the new shade later on. This will at least double the cost of the bleaching though. I wouldn't have the crown changed for a few weeks after bleaching though, as the colour 'settles' over the next few weeks.

This would mean taking a drill to something that is perfectly fine though (Your old crown) so really I wouldn't recommend it.

At some point in the future, the crown will NEED replacing (It won't last forever). The time to consider whitening will be at this time.

Toothsmith

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Hi Toothsmith,

How does it work on peoples teeth who are naturally yellow from birth? Does it just lighten the yellow?

The colour of your teeth comes from the colour of the dentine, which is the layer of tooth below the transleucent/bluey enamel.

This is naturally a yellow, grey or brown shade.

The whitening gels penetrate the enamel and gentley change the shade of the dentine. Or thats how the professional systems work.

The over-the-counter ones have various ways - not all of them harmless!

Terrylw1

Thanks Toothsmith,

Thought I would ask since I've seen you offering cound advice on a few threads about bleaching.

I just assumed that because my teeth were naturally yellow, that a whiteness could not be achieved and I was afraid that it could just leave them blotchy.

Thanks again.

moneylover

Toothsmith, can you point us to any peer reviewed article or abstract that you know of , eg on Pubmed or Google Scholar, that compares the various types and brands of tooth whitening?
Its really interesting to know that the trays work better in terms of longer term effect than the one hour treatments that can cost up to twice as much! Our dentist switched from Britesmile to Zoom about a year ago and I rather uncharitably assumed that rather than professional judgement it was because there were not many takers for the very expensive Britesmile

Toothsmith

No!

But only because I'm not very good at finding that sort of thing!

I take a couple of decent dental journals, (and loads of freebie ones arrive, but they're not always peer reviewed) and read articles as they come up, but I only file them away in my head.

I'm sure if you seach, you will find the sort of thing your looking for. I know Britesmile did have quite a lot of good evidence behind it, but it's still not really a system I'm fond of.

I don't like anything that changes things that quickly!!

Helen_S_5

Has anybody tried Maxodent teeth whitening strips? I found it here: http://whitetooth.sitesled.com/
What can you say?

Toothsmith

Helen_S wrote: »

What can you say?

I can say that's it's not licensed in the UK, and that I wouldn't trust anything that didn't give any indication of it's active ingredient.

xxOOxx_2

I drink red wine and black coffee, yet have very white teeth. Maybe it's genetic, but I brush morning and evening, and follow a bit of advice from my dentist when I was a little 'un - he said to rub my teeth, after brushing, with a towel - this helps keep the plaque down and polishes them up nicely.