While we’d like to encourage everyone to visit us for their teeth whitening needs in order to get better, safer, and longer lasting whitening results, we get it that some folks would rather go to the store and use the one-size-fits-all whitening approach. This approach might be more convenient, and it can sometimes be effective.
But, that said, professional teeth whitening can handle several types of difficult tooth stains and dental issues that store-bought whitening products typically can’t treat effectively (or safely).
Whitening Issues Your Dentist Can Help You Solve
What types of teeth whitening issues can professional whitening address better than store bought whitening treatments?
1. Deep Intrinsic Teeth Stains
Not all tooth stains are equal. While extrinsic stains affect the surface of the tooth, intrinsic teeth stains are located within the dentin – the layer of tooth material beneath the enamel. Aging, long-term exposure to tobacco or tooth staining foods/drinks – coffee, tea, wine- and medications can contribute to deeper tooth stains.
Why Store Bought Treatments Fail?
Over-the-counter whitening products only target surface (extrinsic)stains, so they lack the strength to adequately reach stains that are deeper in the tooth’s enamel or dentin.
How Professional Whitening Treats Deep Stains
Our professional whitening treatments use a higher-concentration gel compared to any store bought whitening treatment. These gels penetrate more deeply than whitening strips or OTC trays.
We can also offer our Zoom! in-house whitening that uses a special light activated gel to whiten the teeth. The heat and light help the peroxide break down faster and reach deeper into the tooth, which can offer significantly whiter and more even results.
***In Some Cases: Whitening Alone May Not Be Enough
If intrinsic stains are too dark, or resistant, we can lighten the teeth but it may not fully remove the discoloration. In these cases, we may suggest combining the whitening with with another non-invasive or minimally invasive cosmetic treatment.
2. Treating Spotting or Uneven Tooth Color
Some existing tooth staining issues can get in the way of your DIY teeth whitening efforts, and could even turn out worse. These staining issues include having white spots White spots on your teeth or yellow banding, which is the appearance of horizontal, stains that are usually more noticeable around the mid or lower area of the tooth.
Possible Store Bought Issues
Uneven Whitening – The over the counter whitening treatment may make the spots or bands more noticeable because they whiten differently than the surrounding teeth.
Advantage of Professional Whitening
Create a More Uniform Whitening – By overseeing your whitening treatment, we can better control the whitening, as well as combine it with another treatment to cosmetically blend the whitening shade better to match your other teeth.
3. Treating Stains Around Existing Dental Work
Sometimes existing dental work can interfere with your teeth whitening efforts. Stains around crowns, fillings or discoloration near veneers or bridges can create tricky whitening situations.
Limitations of DIY Whitening
Take-Home whitening treatments can’t whiten existing dental restorations, and could also create an unusual mismatch in color.
The Professional Approach
By overseeing your teeth whitening, we can strategically whiten your natural teeth to match restorations if needed, and also offer other options so that your whitening goals can integrate with any of your existing dental restorations.
4. Tooth Sensitivity
Having tooth sensitivity, which can be caused by receding gums or thinning tooth enamel, can create an unpleasant teeth whitening experience.
Possible DIY Whitening Issues
Be aware that any type of whitening gel can trigger tooth sensitivity, or even harm your tooth enamel, when it’s not used properly, or you have existing dental issues. If you experience any tooth sensitivity, please let us know. Another issue with store-bought whitening trays is that their one-size-fits-all, so you may be exposing your gums or other sensitive areas to the whitening gels, which can leak out.
Going With the Pros
The biggest benefit is that we can monitor your whitening, and we’re also familiar with any of your current dental issues. If we are aware that you do have tooth sensitivity. we can offer desensitizing agents to keep you comfortable. We will also custom design your whitening trays to fit your teeth, so this will help reduce the exposure of any exposed roots or weak tooth enamel to the whitening gel. We can also adjust the whitening gel concentration to reduce tooth sensitivity.
If you feel like you could benefit from a brighter smile make-over, please call us at (206) 524-1000 to schedule a whitening consultation, or request an appointment online.