Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Teeth Whitening??

We know toothpastes that claim to make teeth whiter are lies. I want to get my teeth professionally whitened (laser??) Does anyone have any more info about professional teeth whitening? Like what celebrities do? Prices? Different procedures?
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The first step to understanding 'whitening' is how to measure it. There is something called a 'shade guide', which is often used to measure the coloration of teeth. This is best done by taking the various shades and putting them next to your teeth until the color most closely matches the teeth. When you talk about whitening, improvement is usually measured in numbers of shades. Of course, the shade guides are sometimes subtle, so you might get an improvement of 1-2 shades by using a whitening toothpaste and not know it, or not be satisfied with it based on the improvement you want to make. This doesn't mean that the whitening toothpaste companies are lying to you about improvement. But what it does mean is that if you are looking for more dramatic improvement than 1-2 shades, you might look elsewhere besides off the shelf whitening toothpastes. There are a variety of options to whiten your teeth that you can explore with your local dentist. These will vary in cost, effectiveness, and time it takes to produce results. The least expensive will be tray bleaching, in which the dentist makes a mouthpiece for you and you wear it to sleep every night. The results will take place over time, which may or may not be what you want. When they take place over time, they will be less immediately noticeble, making it less likely that you will draw attention (and questions) from those that know you well. This will also most likely be the least expensive dental office whitening treatment. There are also in-office, one visit treatments, such as Zoom!, BriteSmile, or a number of laser whitening treatments. With these treatments, expect substantial improvement in one visit - perhaps 6-8 shades, although your dentist will best be able to discuss your particular case and expectations. There is one additional innovation I have seen in regards to whitening. There are some stains (such as those caused by the antibiotic tertacycline) which none of the above whitening methods have effectively served. A dentist in Southern California has come up with a system called 'Deep Bleaching', which has achieved results with these deep stains. This procedure will take multiple visits to the dentist, and probably will be more expensive than the one-visit in office procedures. However, the results speak for themselves. If you want to see deep bleaching explained, with photographs and results as measured by the shade guides, go to http://www.dentalmiracles.com/pages/cosm… As far as celebrities, those that get whitening get them from dentists. There are certain dentists that are likely to have treated celebrities (reputed dentists in Los Angeles and New York are likely to have more celebrity clients than others), but celebrities by and large visit dentists with which you can make an appointment as well. Obviously, the treatment plan is based on the individual case, so that is between dentist and patient. And the 'celebrity dentists' are likely to charge higher fees than average. Best of luck to you in your search for whiter teeth.
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