whiten teeth

Sabine Schrör is a freelance author of the NetDoktor medical editorial office. She studied business administration and public relations in Cologne. As a freelance editor, she has been at home in a wide variety of industries for more than 15 years. Health is one of her favourite topics.

Although discoloured teeth are medically harmless, they are sometimes disturbing from a cosmetic point of view. If you want a bright smile with beautiful white teeth, you can have your teeth whitened. Read here how dentists whiten teeth with professional bleaching, what different forms of bleaching there are and how stressful the procedure is for the teeth.

Why whiten your teeth?

Coffee, tea, grape juice, berries, red wine and nicotine, but also certain medicines such as chlorhexidine leave traces – the dyes they contain are deposited in the tooth enamel. The colour of the teeth can also change from the inside out. For example, when blood particles penetrate the dentin during root canal treatment.

Those who are affected often want an effective and at the same time gentle tooth whitening. Brushing teeth alone usually does not remove the discolorations. Sometimes even a professional tooth cleaning in the dentist’s office can help. If this is not enough for you, you can have your teeth chemically whitened. The so-called tooth whitening can whiten the teeth by several shades.

The agent for tooth bleaching is called carbamide peroxide. It is composed of carbamide, a tasteless, colourless carrier gel, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The active ingredient penetrates into the tooth enamel and releases oxygen radicals, which chemically alter (oxidise) the dyes. The colouring effect is thus eliminated and the teeth appear brighter again.

You can whiten your teeth yourself with free bleaching products from the pharmacy or drugstore.

Whiten your own teeth

You can read here how this works and which household remedies can also whiten your teeth: Whitening teeth yourself.

However, you only achieve very discreet results with this. Bleaching teeth at the dentist is much more intensive. The doctor can whiten your teeth with a higher concentration of carbamide peroxide, so that your teeth are much brighter compared to self-treatment.

Professional bleaching – teeth whitening at the dentist’s

However, before the dentist recommends bleaching, he or she takes a close look at your teeth and gums. Your teeth must be completely free of caries for the treatment. Otherwise, the tooth whitening agent can penetrate the carious teeth and cause damage. The gums must also be healthy. It must not bleed and there must be no gum pockets.

It is also important to know that dental fillings and veneers made of ceramic or plastic such as crowns and bridges cannot be bleached. They retain their colour even after teeth whitening. However, the dentist can then correct the colour differences with new fillings.

In addition, the discolorations must not reach too deep into the enamel, because the bleaching does not work there sufficiently. If the teeth are discoloured in deeper layers, a slight abrasion of the enamel is preferable to bleaching.

Once you have decided together with your dentist to have your teeth whitened, the dentist first removes deposits and discolorations from the tooth surfaces with the help of professional tooth cleaning (PZR). What is still dark afterwards is removed with the help of tooth whitening. Dentists use different methods to whiten your teeth:

  • Home bleaching Home bleaching is the most common form of bleaching. For this purpose, the dentist first makes an impression of your teeth. On this basis, the dentist produces thin plastic splints that are perfectly adapted to your individual tooth position. You use the splints yourself at home: Before each application, fill the splints with the carbamide peroxide gel provided by the dentist. Then insert the splints in the evening for a few hours or overnight, depending on your doctor’s instructions. After about two weeks you will have achieved the desired teeth whitening as a rule. During this time, your dentist will regularly check how much teeth have already been bleached and whether there are any side effects.
  • In office bleaching Another method you can use to bleach your teeth is in office bleaching at your dentist’s office. The dentist uses three times as much carbamide peroxide as with home bleaching. He completely covers the exposed tooth necks and the entire gums beforehand so that the highly concentrated bleaching agent does not attack these sensitive areas. The in office bleaching bleaches the teeth much faster than the home bleaching, because the active ingredient is so highly dosed. As a rule, two to three sessions are sufficient to achieve the desired teeth whitening.
  • Power bleaching You can bleach your teeth even more intensively and quickly with power bleaching, which also takes place in the dental practice. In addition to the bleaching gel, the dentist uses a high-energy light source, such as UV or laser light, to irradiate the teeth. The heat accelerates the bleaching process considerably. However, it has been shown that the stronger bleaching effect diminishes after about six weeks and the teeth are then just as bright as after office treatment.
  • Walking-bleach Internal tooth discoloration after root canal treatment is removed by the dentist with the so-called walking-bleach. First he opens the upper part of the root canal to introduce the bleaching agent. He then closes the opening provisionally. After about a week the tooth is opened again, the dentist removes the whitener and replaces it with fresh active ingredient. This happens about two to three times until the teeth whitening has achieved the desired effect. However, experts do not recommend more than four treatments, as otherwise the tooth structure will be weakened too much. At the end of the bleaching treatment, the dentist finally closes the tooth.

Teeth as white as snow?

The dentist uses standardised colour scales to measure how much brighter the teeth become after bleaching. Two to three shades can be achieved. The German Society for Aesthetic Dentistry recommends not to overdo it with teeth whitening. The goal should therefore naturally be beautiful instead of artificially appearing, snow-white teeth. How bright the teeth become depends on their – genetically determined – original colour. Some people naturally have darker teeth than others.

How long does bleaching last?

As a rule, the whitening effect after teeth whitening lasts between three and five years. How long your teeth actually stay whiter depends on which food you consume. Red wine, grape juice, coffee, tea and nicotine quickly stain freshly whitened teeth dark again. Basically, you can have your teeth whitened again after a few years. It is only important that you do not bleach your teeth permanently, because the enamel is somewhat less resistant to abrasion after bleaching.

Teeth whitening – risks and side effects

Dentists have been using bleaching successfully for many years. With caries-free teeth and healthy gums, the side effects of teeth whitening are virtually impossible. The teeth can only react more sensitively to heat and cold stimuli for a short time. At the latest two to three days after teeth whitening, however, this effect disappears again, often even after a few hours. Dentists usually prevent increased tooth sensitivity by fluoridating the teeth after bleaching.

Picture gallery: Dental care: More than just brushing your teeth

Dr. Andrea Bannert has been with NetDoktor since 2013. Bannert, who has a doctorate in biology and is a medical editor, initially did research in microbiology and is the team expert on tiny things: bacteria, viruses, molecules and genes. She also works freelance for Bayerischer Rundfunk and various scientific magazines and writes fantasy novels and children’s stories.

Like this post? Please share to your friends:
Christina Cherry
Leave a Reply

;-) :| :x :twisted: :smile: :shock: :sad: :roll: :razz: :oops: :o :mrgreen: :lol: :idea: :grin: :evil: :cry: :cool: :arrow: :???: :?: :!: