How To Make Your Teeth White? – Tips For Whitening Teeth Safely

If you’d like a brighter smile and want to know how to make your teeth white, the short answer is: with professional teeth whitening. Despite there being so much online advice promoting home remedies like baking soda, vinegar and fruit acids, the safest and fastest way  to get whiter teeth is actually under the guidance of your dentist. Let’s take a look at how.

Professional Teeth Whitening Tips For A Brighter Smile

There are a multitude of different products on the market that claim to brighten and whiten, but if you can buy them in the supermarket or pharmacy they probably won’t make a noticeable difference to stains and tooth discolouration. And that’s because any products that contain more than 6% hydrogen peroxide can only be administered by medical and dental professionals.

The store-bought teeth whitening products that work so hard to get your attention probably won’t be effective enough to remove the stains and discolouration that build up over time. Tooth discolouration is actually a natural consequence of the ageing process because it’s the dentin inside your teeth that changes colour as you get older. When we are born our dentin is white but it becomes yellower over time.

How To Make Your Teeth White Safely?

The dentin is contained beneath your tooth enamel so in order to whiten it, your teeth whitening products must be able to penetrate the enamel. In order to do this you need a fairly sophisticated product: it needs to remineralise and protect your tooth enamel while simultaneously lifting the stained molecules from the dentin.

Using home remedies like baking soda and lemon juice to get whiter teeth poses a threat to your dental enamel because they can damage it. The same applies with regard to teeth whitening toothpastes, which tend to use abrasive substances and which are only really effective on external stains.

Professional teeth whitening products, available from your dentist, are still the safest, fastest and most effective way to get whiter teeth. You can either have your dentist perform the treatment, or you can speak to him or her about a treatment to use at home. Either way your dental practitioner will help you find the most appropriate approach for your needs.

The Pre-whitening Check Up

It’s really important to have a check up done before you attempt any kind of teeth whitening treatment in-chair or at home. This is to ensure you are not suffering from gum disease or tooth decay. You also need to have a professional cleaning done to remove all traces of plaque and tartar, so that your end-result is smooth and consistent.

Once your dentist has given you the go-ahead for a whitening treatment and cleaned your teeth you will need to decide whether an in-chair or take-home treatment is best. If you have a special occasion or specific date you want your teeth whitening done by, a professional treatment would probably be best. Your dentist is able to use the highest strength teeth whitening products, which will ensure quicker results. First, your dentist will protect your gums and soft tissue, before painting on a thin layer of the bleach. He or she will use a laser to activate the whitening product, to speed up the process. It also allows your dentist to give more stained teeth more attention, to ensure the final result is even.

If you are prepared to wait a little longer for whiter teeth your dentist will give you a take-home whitening kit to use. These can be used at night or during the day for a few hours, as long as you do not exceed the wear time recommended by your dentist or use it more often than directed.

You will be given custom-made trays for your mouth and teeth shape. Before use you will dispense a drop of the bleaching agent into each compartment of the tray. Then you will insert and wear the trays as directed. Once you are done you will need to rinse and brush your teeth thoroughly, taking care not to swallow any of the bleaching agent.

What’s The Fastest Way To Get Whiter Teeth?

An in-chair treatment generally achieves your whitening results in one or two sessions – and it’s so quick most patients find they can fit the appointment in during their lunch hour. If you opt for a take-home treatment, you can expect to wait two to four weeks before you reach your whitening milestone.

 

If you’d like to know more about how to make your teeth white, it’s time to speak to a professional. Please contact us at (02) 8203 8760 for a teeth whitening consultation.