Is it safe?
James and I have been bleaching teeth for the better part of 20 years now and the verdict is in: YES! That may sound too simple but in a 300,000 case study done by Dr. Gordon Christensen a few years back, there were NO cases of "irreversible" sensitivity. Modern bleach gels are virtually all peroxide-based and "PH" neutral, which means the tooth will not "demineralize".
Dr. Christensen went on to point out that if I bleached for a half a million years, I could get a tooth to dissolve, somewhat.
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Is it effective?
Many of us have bleached before and know this, but for any new-comers this note: The effects of tooth bleaching are nearly magical. If we look at the process as simply removing the "stains of age", we get a pretty good idea of who's going to benefit most from the proceedure - just about any of us over 30 with a normal history of consuming "staining" food, i.e. tomato sauce, berries, red wine, etc. ... we're all here eventually!
Although each of us have uniquely natural tints and shades to the enamel covering our teeth, it is that heavily mineralized layer which absorbs the stains which eventually results in our teeth looking a bit taudry. Bleaching simply removes those stains and gets our tooth color back to what it was when we were 16 or so, and which is a pretty great change for most of us.
EXCEPTIONS: some folks are looking for "Hollywood white", and bleaching your teeth will not take them that far. Generally, you can expect a lighter, but natural tone. This is because only the outer mineral layer is lightened, not the inside dentin layer.
If you're looking for "white-white" or have exceptionally dark or gray teeth, you may be looking for porcelain veneers or esthetic, ceramic-porcelain crowns. Go ahead and ask your dentist.
With the effect of the bleach, by the way, most of your friends will simply notice that you're looking somehow more youthful!
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Does it hurt?
Well, we referred above to sensitivity, and it seems almost everyone has some degree of "transient" sensitivity with the real question being how transient and how sensitive. And here I don't want to play it up or down too much either way. Because MOST people are somewhat sensitive and the teeth are fine the next day. SOME people find the procedure causing increased sensitivity over the 3 in-office applications of the gel (over 2 hours) and decide to bail out early. And that's fine. In those cases, we just welcome you back for a "touch-up" a week or 2 later to provide the full effect. But normally, a couple of "Brufen" tablets after the bleach is enough to keep you comfortable and that "nervy" feeling is all gone by the next day.
The only asterisk I ever put on this is that, of course, I'm assuming you've had a full exam and x-rays and we know you don't have any deep decay in any teeth.
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Who administers the application?
All of our dentists and some hygienists are qualified to apply the techniques. The brand we've found most successful is called "Zoom" from Discus Dental in the U.S.. Check out their great website
at www.discusdental.com/patient/ for any questions I may have left unanswered, or just ask when you come!
Okay? That's my 2 cents worth. So bleach, smile and party on!
Best wishes,
Steve
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