Dental Health and Teeth Whitening – Examine Yourself

Do you want to whiten your teeth but concerned about your dental health? At-home teeth whitening is not for everyone. Evaluate your oral health before you order your whitening kit.

This page works the following way:

First: Begin listing all your whitening options:

• Cosmetic Dentistry
• In-office whitening
• At-home whitening with custom fitted trays
• At-home whitening with thermoforming trays
• At-home whitening with paint-on kits
• At-home whitening with whitening strips

Second:
As you read through the page you will evaluate you own dental health and potentially eliminate one or more of the above options.

In the end you will most likely know how to proceed.

Let’s begin

A warning here: The information below cannot replace professional advice. An accurate evaluation of your dental health requires an office visit.

When at-home teeth whitening is not for you

You should not try to bleach your teeth at home if your dental health is questionable. There is no way I can list all the possibilities but here are a few examples.

You should choose in-office whitening when:

• You have open cavities. Open cavities can become overly sensitive from bleaching chemicals.
  
• You have loose teeth. Loose teeth most likely indicate poor dental health. Loose teeth can indicate bone loss which is most likely caused by gum decease.
• You experience bleeding, inflammations, or tissue sensitivity. Bleaching chemicals irritate the gums. If your gums are not in perfect health you should consider seeing your dentist first.
• You have overly sensitive teeth or history of allergies.
• You have recessed gums. Exposed roots may become very sensitive.

Again! If you have any of these dental health problems unsupervised at-home teeth whitening is not for you. You should take care of your oral health before whitening.

If you decide to take the risk anyway, then move slowly. Try teeth whitening strips first. If you go with tray-based whitening you should absolutely consider custom fitted trays and low concentration gels at first. And stop at any sign of trouble.

When in-office teeth whitening fails cosmetic dentistry can help. – Sometimes cosmetic dentistry is your only option. Even if you can try teeth whitening there are times when it doesn’t make much sense to do so.

If you have crowns and fillings at-home whitening may be a better choice.

Are you still reading? Good! If your dental health is in good order at-home teeth whitening may be a good option for you.

When strips are not enough

Whitening strips are very comfortable. But they don’t always work.

How many shades whiter do you want to go?

Look in the mirror. If you have a shade guide use it. If you don’t have one you can still guess. You think you need a guide? Here is how to buy a cheap shade guide.

If your teeth need a lot of whitening you are better off with tray-based teeth whitening kits. How much is a lot? There is no exact number but if you need more than 4 to 5 shades you could say you need a lot of whitening.

If your dental health is on the borderline you may want to try whitening strips even if you need more than a little whitening.

Whitening brownish discoloration can take much longer.

If your teeth are more brown or gray than yellow you are looking at a long whitening cycle. These kinds of stains are usually caused by years of smoking.

These deeply embedded stains are hard to whiten. A single in-office treatment may not be sufficient. You dentist will ask you to continue at home with tray-based whitening kits.

Custom made trays come very handy when you are looking at a long period of bleaching. I would choose to go that way.

If you cannot tolerate the trays or you don’t want to mess with gels and trays you may still choose to whiten with strips. However you are looking at spending money on multiple kits. It could be tough on your budget.

More on dental health – Safety First

This one is very subjective. You looked for bleeding, sensitivity, recessed gums, and cavities. But there is much more to dental health than this.

Be honest with yourself. Give your dental health a score. Consider all you know. How well do you care for your teeth? What has been your history? When did your see your dentist last.

The lower your score the less risk you should take.

My list of at-home whitening methods from safest to riskiest:

• Low concentration teeth whitening strips
• High concentration strips
• Low concentration custom fitted trays
• Low concentration thermoforming trays
• High concentration custom fitted trays
• High concentration thermoforming trays

When strips don’t work

Are your teeth in line?

Even if your dental health is otherwise perfect you may not have many options. Take me for example. I have a tooth that is way out of line. It sticks out. I pay my dues now for refusing to wear braces when I was little. Because my teeth don’t line up whitening with strips is not a good option for me. My teeth would not be covered evenly. So what’s left? Tray-based teeth whitening.

Look around the edges

Give your teeth a close look. Look around the edges. Teeth get darker around the edges first. Whitening strips don’t work very well around the edges. It is because strips are flat or almost flat. Teeth are rounded. The whitening gel must get in contact with your teeth. Strips stick to the flat surface well but may not squeeze enough bleaching gel close to the edges.

It doesn’t mean strips don’t whiten the edges of your teeth. It only means they may note be as effective as tray-based systems.

While checking your teeth around the edges you can discover another potential oral health problem. Recessed gums. If you can see or touch the root of your teeth you may want to reconsider at-home bleaching.

Single tooth discolored

If you want to whiten a single tooth you have two options. Try to apply gel to the individual tooth using custom fitted whitening trays. Or you can try one of the paint-on teeth whitening kits.

How much time you have? How much time you can afford?

Teeth whitening takes time. If your dental health is not perfect it takes even more time. So from fastest to the slowest the list is:

• Professional teeth whitening (about 1 hour per treatment, 1 or more appointments)
• Teeth whitening strips (7 to 14 days per kit, 30 minutes 2 times per day)
• Tray-based whitening with hydrogen peroxide gel (1 to 2 hours per day for several days or weeks. Custom trays take additional time to deliver)
• Tray-based whitening with carbamide peroxide gel (2 to 4 hours per day or overnight, for several days or weeks. Custom trays take additional time to deliver)

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