If you are considering whitening your smile, you have several treatment options at your disposal. Here, our Winnipeg dentists at Academy Dental Group discuss your teeth whitening options.
White Strips
Dental whitening strips are small strips of plastic that are coated with a peroxide-based gel. You apply the strip to your teeth, allowing the peroxide coating lighten the colour of your tooth enamel by removing surface stains.
Whitening strips should be worn for no more than 30 minutes at a time. They are typically applied on a daily basis for a two to three week period.
Because there is only a small amount of peroxide in these products, the end results are usually quite subtle.
Toothpastes
Whitening toothpaste can whiten teeth slightly by removing surface stains. However, whitening toothpastes will not have any effect on the natural color of your teeth, and they won’t be able to lighten stains that have penetrated beneath the tooth's surface.
Enamel strengthening toothpastes help ‘remineralize’ tooth enamel, helping to seal cracks that tend to pick up stains.
With consistent use of an enamel strengthening toothpaste, you can help defend your teeth against cavities and protect your enamel from sustaining further damage. In turn, this can help prevent stains from forming in the first place.
In-Chair Teeth Bleaching
You can achieve whiter teeth in a single, hour-long session at your dentist’s office with in-chair teeth whitening. During the treatment session, your dentist will use a concentrated whitening solution to remove surface stains from your teeth and lighten their natural colour.
This system allows for somewhat more expeditious results in comparison to at-home whitening systems, which are completed over days or weeks.
At-Home Whitening Trays
Tray whitening is a take-home, dentist-supervised whitening option. Tray whitening requires an initial visit to the dentist, and a dental impression from which your whitening trays will be made.
You then take the trays and whitening solution home, and manage the whitening treatment yourself. The gel is typically worn for anywhere from 30 minutes to few hours a day for a period of one to three weeks.
Over time, the whitening solution will remove surface stains from your teeth, and lighten their natural colour as well.
Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain veneers are very thin strips of porcelain that are adhered to the fronts of the teeth to improve their shape, symmetry, and colour.
If you only have one or a few discoloured teeth, porcelain veneers may be a practical solution to make the colour of your teeth look more even.