Sydney Teeth Whitening
There are two methods of teeth whitening offered at our Sydney dental surgery.
Take Home Method
The tooth whitening method we highly recommend is a treatment that you would do yourself at home. First we take impressions of your teeth. From these impressions, we are able to fabricate custom made trays specifically designed for your teeth only. You would wear the trays for 1 hr a day for 2-3 weeks for optimum tooth whitening results. During these weeks Dr Andersons will review your progress and check the health of your gums.
Britesmile – In House Procedure
Britesmile is the other method of tooth whitening at our Sydney dental surgery. This method is an in-chair tooth whitening system. No mess no fuss! All we do is place tooth whitening gel on the teeth and place a plasma light over them to activate the gel. This procedure takes just over an hour of your time. There is nothing for you to do at home unless you wish to purchase a home maintenance kit for future “touch ups”.
We have been using the Britesmile tooth whitening for many years! Whilst it is an effective method of tooth whitening, it is not as effective as the custom made tray system in the long term. The most common use for the Britesmile tooth whitening system at the Sydney dental surgery is for a “quick fix” prior to a special event such as a wedding!
Tooth Whitening Q &A
Q. Will bleaching or tooth whitening damage my enamel?
R. NO! Tooth whitening changes the colour of the stains within your enamel but keeps your enamel intact.
Q. Are there any long term affects to whitening my teeth?
R. Tooth whitening has been around since the 1950’s. To date, there have been no adverse long term affects to tooth whitening.
Q. Does tooth whitening cause any dental pain?
R. Tooth whitening can cause temporary sensitivity to the teeth. This sensitivity varies between patients. If you usually have sensitive teeth to sweets and cold then the chances of sensitivity while tooth whitening is highly likely. This sensitivity is only residual and may last a few hours or up to a day or two.
Some patients also experience gum irritation caused by the whitening gel. This appears as a white area on the gums and is caused by the gel having prolonged contact with the gum tissue. The gum colour will return within a few hours, but can be sensitive for a few days.
Q. Do the restorations on my teeth change colour with tooth whitening?
R. Unfortunately no! You may choose to stop whitening once your natural tooth structures are a similar colour to your current restorations. Alternatively, you may wish to keep whitening until you are happy with the colour of your teeth. But do keep in mind that in this circumstance you may need to have some restorations replaced to match your new “brighter” shade.
Q. Will my teeth whiten evenly?
R. Usually the relative colour differences between your teeth is maintained, but there is an overall tooth whitening of the entire mouth. You may notice more improvement in areas that are more yellow than in other areas of your tooth structure that are already white in appearance. If you do have a chalky white area on a tooth or teeth, it has been our experience that these areas usually remain, there are only a very few cases where these spots have “blended in”.
Q. Tooth whitening procedures can be quite costly. Is this a regular expense for me now? What happens when my colour fades?
R. Once you have whitened your teeth, you can expect the resultant colour to be quite stable for a few years. However, this does tend to vary between patients. The average is somewhere between 2 - 5 years. We do recommend that you “touch up” your whitening every 6 – 12 months as you deem necessary. This will simply ensure that your initial colour will last much longer!
Keep your custom made tooth whitening trays on your stone models provided to you, this will ensure that the plastic trays will keep their shape in years to come, lessening your expense when it comes time to “touch up” or do the initial procedure again.
** NB : There has been no research completed into the use of either tooth whitening treatment during pregnancy or lactation. At this point in time, we are not recommending tooth whitening in these circumstances.