In-Office Teeth Whitening
Are you looking for a Houston cosmetic dentistry clinic that provides in-office teeth whitening services? One of the most popular and affordable ways to brighten your smile and enhance your cosmetic appearance is with a professional teeth whitening procedure. Home-use teeth whitening products are often unsafe, and they use low-dose bleaching agents that work sparingly or not at all. However, in office teeth whitening, you can be assured of results. The procedure will certainly brighten your teeth in several shades. In this article, we discuss the best procedure for in-office teeth whitening, and some of the best cosmetic dentistry services to whiten teeth.
What is the Best and Fastest Way to Whiten Your Teeth?
The best and fastest way to whiten your teeth is through in-office teeth whitening. During your professional teeth whitening procedure, your dentist will use the best dental products to clean your teeth before proceeding with the whitening.
The dentist will apply a strong whitening gel or a bleaching agent to your teeth and use a special type of light to activate the agent for about 15 minutes. This will rapidly get rid of all the surface stains from the enamel of your teeth, brightening your teeth by several shades. The dentist may repeat this procedure a few times until you achieve the desired shade.
This procedure will brighten your teeth considerably in a single session. However, the effects of the treatment will only last a few weeks or months, after which your teeth will get discolored again, and you’ll have to return for more sessions. This is still a lot faster than other home-use methods because they can take weeks to show any results — and even those results aren’t as strong as that of professional teeth whitening.
You should note that professional teeth whitening is the best and fastest way to brighten your teeth, but it comes with limitations. Professional teeth whitening can only brighten your smile by removing surface stains from your teeth. It can remove the discoloration caused by smoking, consumption of tea and coffee, red wine stains, and other surface stains. However, your teeth may also appear yellowed for other reasons. Some people have discolored teeth because of a worn-out enamel that reveals the color of the underlying dentin layer. Some people also have intrinsically stained and yellowed teeth.
Professional teeth whitening won’t work if you have extremely thin or worn enamel or if you have intrinsic stains since childhood. If that’s the case, you may have to opt for other procedures like dental veneers or Lumineers. Consult your Houston cosmetic dentist to determine if in office teeth whitening will work for you.
How Well Does Teeth Whitening Done by the Dentist Work?
Teeth whitening done by the dentist is the safest and most effective means of brightening your smile for the following reasons:
- They use stronger bleaching and whitening agents.
- They protect your mouth and gums from the bleaching agent, making it safer.
- The dentist can customize the amount of bleaching agent used or the concentration.
- Teeth whitening can also lead to issues like teeth sensitivity. The dentist can manage these issues when they come up.
- A single professional teeth whitening session can brighten your smile by up to 10 shades.
- The dentist can also provide at-home custom trays for whitening if you prefer doing it yourself at home.
Are Teeth Whitening Safe?
Teeth whitening is generally considered to be a completely safe procedure. However, you may experience the following side effects of teeth whitening:
- Your teeth will be a lot more sensitive after the treatment, especially after your first or second sessions. You can treat sensitivity using products with potassium nitrate and sodium fluoride. The sensitivity will go down soon.
- You may also experience some irritation on your gums if the bleaching agent touches your gums. However, the sensitivity will go away soon after the treatment.
Other Cosmetic Dentistry Services to Whiten Teeth
As mentioned, professional teeth whitening is the best way to whiten and brighten your teeth. However, it has its limitations and may not help you eliminate intrinsic stains on your teeth. If that’s the case, you should consider dental veneers as an alternative.
Dental veneers are some of the best cosmetic dentistry services in Houston, TX. During the procedure, the dentist applies porcelain or composite resin tooth-shaped wafers over your existing teeth to enhance their appearance. The dental veneers are bonded over your existing teeth to completely conceal your existing teeth, along with all their flaws and deformities. Dental veneers can cover up discoloration, cracks, deformities, gaps between the teeth, and so much more.
Furthermore, dental veneers are stain-resistant, so they don’t get discolored as easily as enamel. The texture of porcelain or composite resin also resembles that of actual enamel, so they resemble real teeth, and no one can tell that you’re wearing veneers.
