Of all the options available to improve a patient’s appearance and aesthetics teeth whitening is most probably the easiest and least invasive treatment option available.
Teeth discolouration is an unavoidable part of the natural aging process as the enamel covering of our teeth is semi-porous despite being so extremely hard. With our diets being full of colourants (coffee, tea, wine, smoking!, and nearly all foodstuffs), these dark colour molecules penetrate into the microstructure of the tooth with the resulting darker colour.
Teeth whitening works by using a peroxide gel that forms hydrogen peroxide and by the processes of oxygenation and conversion break up the colour molecules, and these smaller colour molecules then diffuse out of the tooth making the tooth lighter in shade.
Teeth whitening is also often performed in combination with other cosmetic procedures such as veneers.
Teeth whitening is performed either as an in-office procedure, with stronger concentrations of peroxide used for quicker results, or as an at-home procedure, with lesser concentrations but applied over a longer time period (usually with night-time wear over a 2 week period). The best results are obtained with a combination of the two techniques.
As our teeth are being continually exposed to the factors that cause the discolouration teeth will naturally tend to regress slightly again over time. Easy periodic whitening maintenance (of only 1 or 2 nights per month) will however maintain that wow smile. Once teeth have been whitened they are “conditioned” – so whitening again will whiten them faster, as each whitening session breaks down and removes the deeper and more intransigent colour molecules.