Walking through the dental aisle at your local grocery store may surprise you with the abundance of labels touting how the product is guaranteed to get you a whiter smile. Teeth whitening is a big business now, and for good reason. Having a bright white smile not only instantly changes your smile, but it makes you proud to smile as well. If you are looking to take years off your smile, you do have a few options!
The most common route people can take is to purchase one of the many over the counter teeth whitening systems. These range from simple toothpaste options too complicated whitening strips and gels. The sad fact of over the counter products is that many of them just don’t work well. Do your research on a product you are interested in before you drop some hard earned cash on it.
Your dentist also has a few options that you can try as well. These options mainly center on bleaching. Home bleaching involves your dentist providing you with trays specifically designed for your mouth and a reduced potency bleach gel. You fill the tray with the gel, apply this setup to your teeth, and you wear it for a set amount of time that is prescribed by your dentist. This is the more economical solution, but the results will widely vary as well.
There is also the in-office bleaching treatment. Your gums are covered in a protective barrier, and then a much more potent bleach gel is applied to your pearly whites. This gel is left to sit for up to an hour at a time. Due to the potency of the dentist gel, the desired results are often achieved within three, or less, treatments.
Finally, there is the laser bleaching treatment. This is an in-office dental procedure in which the bleaching agent is activated by a laser. This process is the strongest of all the options and usually, only one sitting of 30-60 minutes is required to get those teeth a bright white.
If you are looking to get those pearly whites as white as they can be, chat with your dentist about your options. You maybe surprised at how affordable and easy it is to take that smile back 10 years.