Teeth Whitening

People often assume  that  the  white “Hollywood”   smile  involves  very prolonged  and  expensive  cosmetic dental treatment.

In reality, it may simply  involve  two (very short) visits to the  dentist.

At visit 1: Impressions  are  taken  of  the  upper  and  lower  teeth and  from  these  the  dental professional will  make  custom   lightweight  whitening  trays .

Visit 2: When the patient has these trays tried in and is shown  how to use the  whitening kit.

If  all  this  sounds  a  bit  simple  ….. well  it  is!

The  Process:

The  whitening  trays hold  he gels in contact with the tooth surfaces for a period of between 2 to 5 hours.

This must be repeated daily (or nightly) for up to 2 weeks, however, most people find excellent results after a few days.

During  the   process the  chemicals in the gel remove surface stains from the  tooth enamel  and  seep into  the  surface  layers  of  the   teeth  effectively  whitening  them.

The  active  ingredient  in  the  gel  is  either 6% Hydrogen peroxide  or 10-16% carbamide  peroxide.  these  compounds  are  completely  safe  to  use  and  are  ONLY  available  in  this  concentration  from  a  registered  dental  practitioner who  can monitor the whitening process.

(It has been established scientifically that the lower concentrations available over the counter in some pharmacies produce no whitening effect.)

How long does it last?

Typically  the whitening will last a year to 18 months  but  this  will  vary  widely  from one individual to another.

DIET  plays  a  huge  part  in  success  with  certain foodstuffs  tending to cause more discolouration than others.

Typically  heavily coloured foods, coffee, black tea and red  wine are the  main offenders when it  comes  to  undoing the  good  work.

Sensitivity?

Some  people may  experience a degree of sensitivity from  the whitening gels.

This  is reduced  considerably  by  the  desensitizing compounds ACP and  Flouride.

The  good  news  is…………

Your whitening  trays   can  be  used  multiple  times  and  if  after  a  year  or  so  the  whiteness is  fading  the  dentist  can  simply  supply  more  gels  to  repeat  the  process  .

(Dental Council regulations  require  examination by a  dentist  before  each  repeat cycle  of whitening)

Did you know we are among the few dentists in Connacht to offer Twilight Sedation?