Sensitive teeth from whitening - dentists advice please.

apples1

I am part way through teeth whitening. I had trays made via my dentist and have been given these and seven syringes of gel to treat my teeth. The gel is called Pola Night 22%. I have been advised to use it every night for about two weeks. The dentist said to stop for a break if teeth got sensitive. I have done six treatments and my teeth (mainly the ones at the bottom near the front) are now really feeling sensitive. Not just when eating/drinking but even just from the air! I guess I need to stop which is a shame. I just wondered how long it would normally take for the sensitivity to subside? I am using Sensitive Toothpaste (Boots own) which is the paste I use anyway. He told me to rub extra paste on during the day which I did yestetday and today but it isn't helping. Is there anything else I can do to stop help the sensitivity? Do painkillers help? I am going to have to miss doing the treatment again until this subsides.

brook2jack

You pay a dentist for whitening so you can be sure it is done safely and in a controlled manner. You should phone your dentist for advice as they know you and your teeth and should be supervising treatment and will advise you on what steps you should be taking to whiten without sensitivity being a problem..

Toothsmith

Your dentist has given you the advice. "If it starts to get sensitive, then take a break"

It is starting to get sensitive, therefore you should take a break.

If you need more clarification, then you should ring up your dentist, not take advice on an internet forum.

He didn't say "Stop" - as in the treatment has failed, you can never have this done again, you are not suitable for it - just "take a break".

It is not unusual for patients to feel a bit of sensitivity during this proceedure. I don' think very many of my patients manage to get all the way from beginning to end without a few breaks.

So just leave it alone for a night or two (like you have been told) see what it's like then. If it's calmed down, then off you go again, if it's not then either give it another night or two off, or contact your dentist for advice.

If you feel you need more reassurance than that - then you should contact your own dentist now.

apples1

Ok, thats me told then. No harm intended. I learn a lot (about a lot of things) by seeking other views, opinions and suggestions. This was to be additional info not in place of contacting her if I needed to.

I thought about cutting the numbers of hours per night and looked online to see recommended hours (as she just said overnight) only to find info that says it should only be done for one hour at a time with that % in that brand & anything else is out of date info! I have been wearing for eight hours.

I have follow up app booked for end of next week. My dentist is very nice but you cannot get past the receptionists by phone. You can only get advice by booking in and it is well over an hour round trip for me so a few interim tips was all I was after.

As nobody has answered re pain killers I have just taken some ibruprofen to see if they work to ease it. Thanks for your posts both. I will skip the treatment tonight as I probably should have done last night to be honest.

ellay864

If you are in pain I would expect that you should be able to speak to your dentist. Can the receptionist not arrange a suitable time - obviously you can't just expect to be put through to her if she's with patients. I don't know if my expectations would be too high but I'd certainly expect to be able to speak to my dentist if I was suffering pain or had any concerns about treatment they were giving me - maybe toothsmith or brook2jack can comment on how they work, but I'm reading their posts as them expecting the same. If I felt a receptionist was being overly obstructive I would raise it with the dentist directly; have done so with a doctor before now.
And there shouldn't be any harm in taking simple OTC painkillers if you're in pain, as long as you havent been told to avoid particular drugs during your treatment

Toothsmith

If this happened to one of my patients, and they were concerned by it, then I would hope they would ring up.

They would explain the problem to my receptionist, who would reassure them and let them know that she would pass the message on as soon as I had finished the next patient.

She would come in and tell me.

I would then ask the receptionist to ring the patient back and tell her to stop the treatment for a night or two and to see how it went. Starting again as soon as it had camed down, but having another break if it got sensitive again.

If anything gave her further concern, then I would instruct her to ring up straight away, and we'd get them in and have a look.

If a patient has concerns, then my advice and supervision is part of what they are paying for - so use that part of the service.

brook2jack

Same as TS I would expect patient to leave message with receptionist who would then ask me about advice, appointment , if necessary, and then phone back.

With tooth whitening I will review a patient a couple of times during treatment to adjust concentrations etc.

However in general it is impossible for me to phone people or speak to them during the working day, but as all our receptionists are qualified dental nurses with many years experience (20Plus!) and they will always ask the dentist , phoning the surgery will sort most peoples problems out , in a way that is appropriate to them as no advice is given without reading their notes etc and tailoring advice to their specific problems and past history..

ali-t

I am using the sensodyne repair and protect toothpaste with mine and haven't had any sensitivity. My dentist also told me that I could wear the trays at night with toothpaste on them if my teeth were sensitive.

apples1

Missed a night last night and feeling a lot of improvement in sensitivity today. Going to use again tonight but then miss tomorrow so it doesn't build up to be bad again (hopefully).

Thank you for all your comments.

Toothsmith

apples1 wrote: »

Missed a night last night and feeling a lot of improvement in sensitivity today. Going to use again tonight but then miss tomorrow so it doesn't build up to be bad again (hopefully).

Thank you for all your comments.

Sounds like a sensible plan!