Bring Back Your Pearly Whites with Various Teeth Whitening Treatments

Your smile is one of your most important assets. Case in point: experts say that your smile influences your chances of getting hitched. 69 percent of all people say that they find women more attractive when they smile. As unbelievable as it sounds, your smile influences people’s first impressions of you. In other words, having yellowish or ugly-looking teeth can have a serious impact on your social life, whether you like it or not. Sadly, human teeth naturally deteriorate over time due to prolonged use, disease, or aging.

This is the biggest reason why teeth whitening procedures are offered by most dentists today, so as to give you a chance at getting your crush's attention or make the moments you spend with your loved one more memorable. However, giving back your pearly whites’ old luster is easier said than done because teeth stains are quite irregular. Plaque, bits of food, and the like that you can find on your teeth can easily be removed because they are only extrinsic in nature, but discolorations caused by minerals like fluoride and tetracycline are intrinsic and reach all the way to your teeth’s enamel.

In-Office Whitening

Dealing with these two types of stains is the specialty of in-office whitening treatments, typically offered by dental practices experienced in cosmetic dentistry. Mouth trays filled with whitening formula are the most common type of in-office whitening available to you, although how they work depends on your dentist. Some dentists may require you to wear these mouth trays for weeks or months, while others insist that you wear them only when you visit their office.

On the other hand, stubborn stains may prove to be too much for simple mouth trays and require a dose of high-concentration peroxide gels. If you have this case of teeth discoloration, you may have to visit your dentist more than once.

Over-the-Counter Whitening

Whitening toothpastes and gels are also sold commercially and they are perfect for you if you simply don’t have the time to pay your dentist a visit. However, over-the-counter whiteners are not as effective in-office treatments. In addition to that, some of these products may even be harmful to your teeth without your dentist’s supervision.