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Posts Tagged ‘In-house whitening’

Get Whiter Teeth in the Heart of Leeds

Wednesday, March 16th, 2016

2977218_blogA tooth’s natural whiteness can start to fade over time if the tooth enamel’s mineral composition starts to change. The process of discolouration can be accelerated by numerous factors such as smoking or consumption of coffee or red wine.

The process of teeth whitening involves brightening the teeth through the use of oxidising agents such as carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide. These agents get to internal stains by penetrating the tooth enamel and gradually bleach the layer of dentin lying beneath the tooth enamel. In most cases teeth whitening results will last for several months, but this will vary from person to person. Premature discolouring can be caused by smoking or consumption of liquids with a strong colour.

Home whitening treatment

Sometimes patients will wear a custom-designed tray containing a bleaching agent in a process known as at-home whitening. The low intensity oxidising agent in the tray needs to be kept close to the teeth for roughly 6 hours a day for between 5 and 15 days. The results of this process can vary according to what system has been used. Some will notice hardly any change after a few days, while for others the change could be significant.

Teeth brightening treatment

For most people, teeth whitening is an effective treatment that leads to teeth being significantly brightened. Some stains, however, do not respond to bleaching. For tetracycline staining, because the agent has to get to the tooth’s dentin layer, the process of bleaching will take longer. If there is staining on just one part of a tooth, there will be a noticeable difference between the stained and unstained parts, meaning that although the tooth will generally look whiter, the results will be less impressive. Any white spots on a tooth may also be more obvious once the tooth has been whitened. In general, decayed teeth or teeth that have a natural grey tinge will not respond as well to whitening.

Although teeth whitening can slightly change the colour of composite restorations, it will not change the colour of any restorations made of metal, ceramic material or porcelain. If you would like more information about our tooth whitening treatments then please contact the team at City Dental in Leeds.