The Lies About Teeth Whitening
Little White Lie #1
The Lie: Brushing your teeth with whitening toothpaste is the best way to whiten your teeth.
The Truth: No one would argue that you shouldn’t brush your teeth regularly and whitening toothpaste certainly couldn’t hurt. Brushing your teeth is vital to the health of your teeth as well as being a basic tenet of good hygiene. However, the ingredients in whitening toothpastes just don’t spend enough time in direct contact with your teeth to provide the kind of results that people tend to believe that they have.
Your saliva prevents the whitening agents in these toothpastes from being in contact long enough to do any real good in terms of tooth whitening. The active ingredients in these toothpastes are also usually present in such low concentrations that even if they did spend enough time in contact with your teeth, they still wouldn’t be terribly effective. They’re a great idea, but whitening toothpastes really don’t do anything that regular toothpastes don’t.
Little White Lie #2
The Lie: If you want your teeth whitened, the best course of action is to see your dentist.
The Truth: Yes, it is true that your dentist can help you to get whiter teeth. However, you don’t have to go to your dentist to get the same effect. The whitening agent which your dentist uses is almost invariably either Carbamide Peroxide or Hydrogen Peroxide: the same whitening agents used in do-it-yourself tooth whitening systems.
How effective these peroxide tooth whitening systems are depends on two things: How high of a concentration of peroxide is present in the whitening gel and how long this product spends in direct contact with your teeth.
What does this mean? It’s simple – you can use a high concentration whitening solution for a short period of time as your dentist would, or a lower concentration product for a longer duration; the approach used with do it yourself teeth whiteners.
Either method produces the same results, though there is one factor which differs significantly: the cost. You’ll pay four to eight times as much to have a dentist whiten your teeth as you would to whiten them using an at home teeth whitening system. Since you can get the same results at home with a much smaller price tag, it’s no surprise that an increasing number of people are starting to choose at home tooth whitening over a dental procedure.
Little White Lie #3
The Lie: All tooth whiteners produce the same results.
The Truth: There is a lot of difference between tooth whitening solutions. Some products are very effective and others are nearly worthless.
The difference generally comes down to the ingredients used in the product. Different whitening gels differ in their concentration of active ingredients – and thus in the degree to which they are effective. Before making a purchase, you should look at the different products; some are made for specific types and levels of staining.
Little White Lie #4
The Lie: Bleaching your teeth damages the teeth and the gums.
The Truth: Tooth bleaching does not harm your teeth or your gums. The whitening agent is applied directly to your teeth and a process of oxidation begins which dissolves the deposits of organic materials which stain or discolor teeth. No harm is done to the teeth or the gums – it is possible that the teeth may temporarily become sensitive, though this is a short-lived side effect which can be eliminated by reducing the time that the agent is applied to the teeth.
Gum irritation happens to some users, though this is usually due to a tray which is improperly designed and allows the whitening gel to contact the gums – a compelling argument to use the at home tooth whitening systems which include custom whitening trays.
Little White Lie #5
The Lie: Whitening strips are the best, most effective method, of whitening the teeth
The Truth: There’s that word “best” again. However, it is not the case that whitening strips are the best, or even among the best methods of tooth whitening. The problem is that no two people have the same teeth, meaning that a whitening strip can’t conform to the surface of your teeth perfectly. Grooves and depressions in the teeth aren’t affected and even in the best case scenario, a whitening strip can only get the front of your teeth. You’ll get uneven whitening and very unattractive “stripes” of stained teeth – something which can actually look worse than before you started using the strips!
Little White Lie #6
The Lie: You don’t need a custom whitening tray; besides, the thermoform trays are cheaper
The Truth: Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Just like whitening strips, these trays don’t provide a perfect fit for your teeth; it’s like trying to wear dentures made for someone else. A custom-fitted whitening tray, however, will conform to your teeth and produce even whitening as well as reducing the potential for irritation if the gums since they reduce the amount of whitening gel which can leak out.
Little White Lie #7
The Lie: Paint on style tooth whiteners are the best way to go since they’re the easiest kind to use.
The Truth: The paint-on whiteners are definitely easy to use, but unfortunately they’re not effective. They have the same fatal flaw as whitening toothpastes. Your saliva washes away the whitening agents, meaning that the whiteners aren’t left in contact with the surface of your teeth for a long enough time to do much, if anything to whiten them. The whitening agents in these products is also present in a very low concentration so as to prevent irritation – so even if they did spend more time in contact with your teeth, they are of very little use. At best, these paint on tooth whitening products leave you with very limited whitening results and have an uneven, unnatural look.
Other paint on tooth whiteners are basically whitewash for the teeth and do nothing to actually remove stains and discoloration.
Little White Lie #8
The Lie: Teeth whitening systems which use electroluminescence in conjunction with a whitening gel work better than systems which only use a gel because of the high-tech light technology activating the ingredients of the gel
The Truth: These products are nothing new; what they are is ineffective. The electroluminescence used in these products don’t do anything except for look pretty. There is no added effect to these products by virtue of this light and it’s not necessary to remove staining and get whiter teeth. This is a marketing ploy, plain and simple.
Little White Lie #9
The Lie: Tooth bleaching procedures provide everyone with the same results
The Truth: Every individual is different and so are their teeth; including their staining. Some stains are easier to bleach than others. Yellow stains are the easiest to remove, followed by brown staining. Teeth which are stained to a grayish shade are the most difficult to whiten by the use of a bleaching procedure.
Little White Lie #10
The Lie: If you swallow tooth whitening gel it can result in internal injuries.
The Truth: Any tooth whitening procedure involves swallowing some of the whitening gel used. It doesn’t matter what type of system you choose, the chances of swallowing a small amount of whitening gel are 100%. There is no risk of injury from swallowing these miniscule quantities of tooth whitening solutions; they may not taste fantastic, but you won’t be doing yourself any harm.
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