Professional teeth whitening

Teeth whitening popularity is rising rapidly these days as every one wants a pearl white teeth.  The concept of teeth whitening is based on the oxidization effect of free oxygen on stain particles. The teeth whitener or the teeth whitening agent releases free oxygen that penetrates the tooth to reach the deep layers where internal stains present.

When the free oxygen attacks the large molecules of dental stains it breaks it to a smaller particles that is lighter in color.

There is many forms of teeth whitening  available but generally we can categories it to.

    * Dentist applied (which called dentist or professional teeth whitening)
    * Dentist prescribed (which called at home teeth whitening).

The home teeth whitening method start by your visit to you dentist to examine your teeth and to be sure that there is no contraindications for teeth whitening treatment  like caries or gum recession , So please don’t start applying any of the products available in the market without dentist prescription as this may be dangerous and many of these products lakes the proper testing and evaluation, So your dentist is the best one who can choose you what to use and how to use it AND sometimes you are contraindicated to use teeth bleaching at all.

Dentist or professional teeth whitening products are based usually on hydrogen peroxide as an active ingredient . Some times carbamide peroxide is used but it release half of the oxygen released by the same concentration hydrogen peroxide so many dentists prefer the hydrogen peroxide based whiteners.

The procedures of teeth whitener application is depending to the system but generally we can summarize it as follow:

1-Careful examination

2- Calculus removal and teeth polishing: This is a very important step and i think it is the cause of the failure that happens with over the counter teeth whiteners. When teeth scaling is neglected the free oxygen released by the whitening gel react with tartar, plaque and superficial stains and after this reaction there will be no oxygen left to react with the deep dark stains that cause the dark color of the teeth  which will lead to failure of the treatment.

3- Soft tissue isolation : This is the reason that makes professional teeth whitening more safe and less annoying than home teeth bleaching as the dentist will isolate the gum, cheek and lips not to come in contact with the teeth whitener gel which cause the material to be more concentrated on the teeth, This can  also diminish the burning effect of oxygen on gum and lips. There is many ways to isolate the soft tissue either by using rubber dam to cover gum and lip or painting isolating resins to gum and lips before applying of the material.

4-Application of teeth whitening gel:  Teeth whitening gel may be used directly as a painting to the labial surface of the teeth or may be loaded to a custom tray that the patient wear. Also some systems like ZOOM needs light source to be activated and others may be activated chemically with no need to light. generally light systems are a little bit expensive and supposed to be more effective although some authors stated that the efficacy  is almost the same but i see that light activated systems are a little bit more effective.

The application time vary from 10 min to 45 min in some systems and also the number of application vary according to the case and the system used.

5-Rinsing the gel and removal of the insulator system.

6- Applying of desensitization gel: Dentists prefer to apply desensitizers after finishing of the whitening process as this will relive the sensitivity that happens some times and also repair the tooth surface enamel and remineralize  the lost calcium from the tooth.

After all dentist applied teeth whitening is considered the best solution to have a whiter teeth if you can afford it. It is safe,  fast and have the best results the only disadvantage is the cost as it usually coast from 500- 1000 $ which is much higher than you usually pay for home teeth whitening systems available in market so forget all the faulty information on the internet and choose it, If you can’t afford it then let your dentist describe any good at home system,  It will work too.