The Most Effective Teeth Whitening Techniques in Dentistry
Dental health care goes beyond having clean teeth. The confidence to show off your smile is embedded in how great you feel about your smile. Sometimes, even the cleanest teeth cannot give you the confidence you desire.
Among the most popular cosmetic dental treatments in Katonah, NY is teeth whitening. When you have the whitest teeth in the room, even your confidence tops that of other people. Sometimes, teeth whitening is all you need to rock the most beautiful smile.
What Is Teeth Whitening?
It is the process of fading, removing, or covering the stains on teeth that make teeth appear discolored. Over the years, teeth whitening in Katonah, NY has become one of the most popular procedures for patients seeking cosmetic elevation. Still, how the whitening procedures are performed differs from one patient to another. A dentist in Katonah, NY will give you the breakdown of the available procedures that can help you achieve the whitening results you seek for your teeth.
Safest Way To Whiten Teeth
One of the greatest challenges about tooth whitening in Katonah, NY is that many patients still feel like they can achieve what they want by themselves. While there is nothing wrong with that, it deprives your dentist of the opportunity to cater to your oral health during the whitening procedures.
The biggest problem with whitening your teeth by yourself is the safety element. How you use the products means to remove stains on your teeth can affect the outcome. You can end up eroding the enamel of your teeth, causing issues like dentin hypersensitivity.
Instead, be sure to consult your dentist about your whitening desires. Besides, dental experts have different approaches for doing this, all of which are safe and effective.
Professional Techniques For Whitening Teeth
Even in dental offices, there is not one single technique for whitening teeth. As patients have different preferences as well as unique teeth discolorations, approaches change. Your attending dentist will examine your teeth to identify the root cause of the discoloration, as well as how severe the stains are on your teeth. Afterward, any of the following approaches for brightening the color of your teeth can be employed:
- Whitening gels – involves the use of special whitening gels or strips that are applied on teeth. On numerous occasions, this is the go-to approach to whiten teeth. Once the gel-like paste is applied on your teeth, lasers or ultraviolet light can be used to speed up the bleaching process. The steps are repeated back and forth at least twice during your procedure. It is usually effective for mild teeth stains.
- Whitening trays – it features using special trays that lock in the peroxide element in your teeth. An example of this approach for whitening teeth is the KöR treatment. The trays are kept on for several minutes or hours, to allow for the bleaching process to continue. This approach is more reliable for removing harsher stains than would whitening gels.
- Dental veneers – some stains are deeply embedded in the fabric of the tooth structure, making them difficult to remove without damaging the enamel of teeth. For such, a different alternative is used, which involves placing tooth-shaped applications over the front surfaces of teeth, called dental veneers. They are a great way to brighten all your teeth without the intense process of bleaching them. The materials used to make dental veneers are tooth-colored, allowing you to choose a shade of white you prefer for your new smile.
- Dental bonding – it is a lot similar to dental veneers. However, a putty-like resin composite is molded on the surface of your discolored tooth. It is more targeted so that the very badly stained teeth are covered with the composites, while the rest can be whitened through a different technique. It is a common procedure in cosmetic dentistry, where patients are more conservative about their approaches to achieving beautiful smiles.
Summary
When there are many alternatives to a treatment you want, it can overwhelm you to make a decision that makes you comfortable. Thankfully, you do not have to do it alone. You have your attending dentist, who can guide you through the different approaches, weighing out the pros and cons of each.