Understanding Procedures:Bleaching

Almost everyone wants a beautiful, whiter smile. Many options exist today for bleaching. Three categories currently are available for bleaching teeth: use of over-the-counter products, customized take-home bleaching trays, and in-office bleaching. All of these options have advantages and disadvantages, but will whiten your teeth.

There are a great many over-the-counter products available for bleaching ranging from strips, to whitening toothpastes, to products that get painted on teeth, to generic tray and gel systems. The challenges with over-the-counter products usually are associated with incomplete coverage of the teeth and with weaker bleaching agents. While relatively inexpensive, they may not get the teeth as white as what their full potential will allow and may not completely whiten the entire tooth.

Use of customized take-home bleaching trays utilizes the assistance of a dental professional with the bleaching process. At an initial visit, an impression is taken of your teeth and customized bleaching trays are made that will fit only you. Each tray is retentive and made to keep the bleaching material off of the gums. In addition, specialized reservoirs, which hold the ideal amount of bleaching gel, are placed over each tooth that is indicated for bleaching. These added benefits are something that generic over-the-counter trays cannot accomplish. After a couple of days, the finished, customized take-home bleaching trays are returned to you along with the bleaching gel. The bleaching gel provided by a dental professional is usually of a moderately high strength and usually contains additives to help minimize sensitivity during the bleaching process. At this point, bleaching occurs in the convenience of your home for 30 minutes to a couple of hours every day for a couple of weeks.

The final way bleaching can occur is doing in-office bleaching with the assistance of your dentist. Usually completed within a 60-90 minute dental appointment, all of the bleaching is done chair-side. The dentist begins by placing material over your gums in order to protect them from the bleaching agent. He will also place a lip retractor to hold your lip out of the way and place a bite block in your mouth to help retract your tongue and to give you something to rest your teeth on. Your dental provider will then begin applying a very strong bleaching agent on your teeth (much stronger than what is available for home use). The material will stay on your teeth for a short period of time and then be washed off. A fresh amount of bleaching agent will then be reapplied to your teeth. These steps will be repeated several times until the desired shade is achieved.

After any of these bleaching procedures, a short period of sensitivity is normal. This sensitivity is typically reversible and is associated with the action of the bleaching materials. Use of lower concentration bleaching agents or taking "time off" during the bleaching process can help minimize the duration and extent of the sensitivity. Also, look for bleaching products that have additives to help control sensitivity.