How to Care For Your Teeth after Teeth Whitening Treatments

Your 2 to 4 hours of daily bleaching is done. What are you supposed to do after teeth whitening treatments? Should you brush your teeth after teeth whitening treatments? Should you rinse? Can you eat?

Taking care of your teeth does not end with your daily bleaching. Here is what to do after.

Rinse First!

Rinse before you do anything else. You don’t want to keep the bleaching gel in your mouth any longer. Try not to swallow the gel. It is not good for you.

Some kits come with mouthwash. Use that. If you don’t have mouthwash, look for something with fluoride.

Why Fluoride? Bleaching reduces the mineral content of your tooth enamel. It is called demineralization. Minerals make your enamel strong. The necessary minerals are always present in your saliva. Your teeth are reloaded with minerals from your saliva all the time.

However the replenishment of these minerals takes at least 30 minutes. Fluoride helps this process. Until then your teeth are vulnerable.

Again, do not rinse with colored or acidic liquids. Those do more damage than good.

Are you ready for a drink?

You are probably thirsty by now. Again, juices, colored or acidic drinks are to be avoided at least until your enamel recovers from bleaching. Drink plain old water instead.

Brush or Not to Brush?

You rinsed but you still feel you need more cleaning. Try to wait 30 minutes to an hour before you brush your teeth.

If you choose to brush do it very lightly. Don’t forget! Your teeth enamel is still week. It needs at least 30 minutes to build up strength from demineralization. Hard brushing will do more harm than good.

Use desensitizing toothpaste with fluoride if possible. My favorite is still Sensodyne® Extra Whitening.

It contains 5% potassium nitrate to treat tooth sensitivity.
It also contains fluoride to strengthen your tooth enamel.

Eat or not to Eat?

The same rules apply here. Try not to eat immediately after your teeth whitening treatments. Your enamel needs time to recover.

Back to how to whiten your teeth