Teeth whitening, An interview with a professional.Teeth whitening, An interview with a professional.

The marketing specialist in our clinic has made an interview with me about teeth whitening to be presented for our clinic patients,

here it is

how teeth whitening works??

Bleaching or whitening is generally an oxidation process. When this peroxide teeth whitener gel activated a free oxygen is released and penetrates the tooth enamel to react with the large molecules of dental stains. This reaction produce a smaller lighter molecules which cause the teeth to become whiter than before.

This will make me ask ,what is the causes of dental stains??

Usually teeth are white when they erupt but prolonged contact with staining food and drinks (coffee, tea, smoking and wine) without regular brushing will give the opportunity of the stains to accumulate deep inside the teeth and become harder to remove.  Also some drugs , plaque accumulation, general medical conditions, large amalgam fillings and dental caries can produce very deep staining.

Ok now we know that teeth whitening is an oxidation process. This will lead to a very common question about the harm or effect of teeth whiteners  on human enamel? or in other word is dental bleaching is considered safe from a scientific view?

A very good question that i have to answer daily in my clinic. We have to say that the effect of teeth whitening on enamel was one of the most discussed issues between researchers in this field and we won’t be able to mention every opinion said about this here but i will try to summarize the results after carefully reading most of the researches published about the safety of teeth whitening.

• Teeth whitening has little effect on teeth enamel surface roughness and chemical composition. The effect is not extreme or even un noticed clinically and has a very little clinical actual significance. To ease it we will say that the effect is usually equivalent to keeping carbonated beverage in you mouth for minutes.
• Even this little effect is auto repaired by the natural calcium ions presented in saliva in a matter of days.
• If you still afraid of this issue you can ask your dentist to prescribe you any re-mineralizing gel  that contains fluoride or amorphous calcium phosphate (acp) and be sure that your teeth will be even better than before.

Great, But i think that we missed a very important question. Is teeth whitening really works? Will i see actual results?

Yes for sure in most of the cases it works well, all you need is to choose a good product and used it as instructed. We have to say that Some cases are resistant  and won’t respond to teeth whitening but it still a very low ratio.

so you are saying that some cases won’t respond to bleaching, Is this means that the results will vary from a case to another?

yes but in most cases you will have an acceptable to wow results. But this leads to a very important point for both dentist and patient , Keep the expectations realistic and low as possible as the high expectations in teeth whitening will lead to disappointment. We should remember that the human teeth shouldn’t be chalky white this is un natural and will look artificial, Only we want the adult teeth to be as white as a child teeth and this will be great, natural and good looking.

Are home teeth whitening as good as over the counter or home teeth bleaching alternatives??

This is one of the most popular questions regarding teeth whitening. I will compare between the two techniques here briefly but in both cases i recommend that you consult you dentist before starting any type of teeth whitening even the home bleaching so he can choose the best solution for your case and inform you if there is any contraindication of the treatment.

I remembered now i wrote a great article about this comparison between home and dentist teeth whitening you can read it from here.

At home vs dentist teeth whitening

but i will summarize it here as much as i can:

1-Comfort: dentist whitening is more comfortable as it takes much shorter time and the gum is isolated so the gum burning is minimal. With at home teeth whitening the patient have to wear the tray over night for 4-7 nights which can be very annoying

2-Cost: sure at home teeth whitening is much more cheaper.

3-Color change: my personal opinion is that dentist whitening is more effective that at home whitening although some researchers state that a similar results can be achieved with the home bleaching but after a repeated use.

ok  lets say that i want to save some money and use home or what you call  over the counter teeth whitening product, There is many forms and types of these products can we review them quickly?

home teeth whitening tray based systems: This is the original ,oldest and the most trusted  home teeth bleaching system introduced in the markets. Personally it is the first solution i recommend for my patients as i feel that this type investigated widely and we can say that the results are expected some how. The disadvantage of this system that the patient have to wear the tray for hours over night which may be uncomfortable to some patients also it coast a little bit more than the other systems.

Teeth whitening stripes: This is the second recommendation and this option is gaining popularity and trust these days specially after some researches that state that it is as effective as the tray based  systems. here is link of one of these researches

http://www.the-o-zone.cc/HTMLOzoneF/abstracts/ab197.pdf

Teeth whitening pen or brush on systems: some researches also recommend this solution although clinical results of this systems appear to be inferior to tray systems and strips. But we have to say that teeth whitening pen systems offer the most comfortable, easy to use and cheap solution.

OK this will lead to another question,  The markets are full with hundreds of teeth whitening products and many brand names which brand name you recommend??

First thing be aware of the scams. i have to say that most of the products available are ineffective or even harmful to your teeth so you have to search for the products that has FDA and  ADA approval and quality seal.

Also stick to the famous companies that has a good reputation in dental products as these company has a reputation to conserve and expose their new products to extensive testing so you can be sure that the product is safe and effective.

Last thing avoid collecting customer reviews for teeth whitening products from the internet as the marketing teams of the scams are very active and filling the web with thousands of pages of fake reviews.

And again ask your dentist about the best type.

Doctor you are giving me a very diplomatic answer, If you recommend a product to your patient what will it be?

ok i prefer to describe for my patients the home products of the world leader companies in the field of professional teeth whitening that we use in our clinics. For example Discus Dental, Ultradent and Ivoclar Vivadent are a pioneers in the field of professional teeth whitening and has a very good home teeth whitening products so i recommend the home systems of these companies.

Another option will be the products of dental care products pioneers like Oral-B, Crest, Colgate, Rembrandt and the similar companies.

So after teeth whitening what should i make to conserve the results for a longer period?

just the routine oral hygiene procedures and regular brushing, avoiding staining food like tobacco and coffee, regular tartar removal and polishing at your dentist clinic also if you will eat or drink something that will stain your teeth you have to brush just after eating not to give the stains the chance to penetrate deep in your teeth.

sometimes it will be good to have a touchup visit every 6-8 months to keep the results.

Usually how much the effect of teeth whitening remain ??

we can say from 1-4 years. But the patient has to follow the normal oral hygiene procedures like regular brushing and calculus removal and polishing every 6 months. We have to say also that even after the teeth shade rebound it usually gets back to a lighter color than before.

thanks a lot doc and have a great day.