Many people have yellowish teeth, even those with excellent dental hygiene. What’s more, yellow teeth aren’t necessarily a sign of anything bad. Depending on what’s causing your yellow teeth, they may still be perfectly healthy.
Preparation before teeth whitening
Before teeth whitening, you must first check with your dentist to understand the cause of tooth discoloration, and then you can choose a suitable whitening method for treatment. For different whitening methods, sometimes it is necessary to deal with oral problems first, such as: untreated tooth decay, loose or missing fillings, periodontal disease… etc.
Causes of tooth discoloration
Before we want to know how to whiten teeth, we need to understand what causes the teeth to turn yellow and black:
- Food dyeing (such as drinking tea, coffee, cola, red wine, curry)
- Smoking, eating betel nut
- Long-term use of mouthwash containing chlorhexidine
- As you age, your teeth turn yellow
- Congenital or acquired diseases lead to dysplasia or discoloration of teeth
- During tooth development, use drugs to a certain amount, causing tooth discoloration: such as tetracycline
- Tooth trauma, tooth decay or pulp necrosis
- Some metal fillings, cylinders, dentures
Types of teeth whitening
- Cold light/laser whitening
Cold light whitening or laser whitening is a “chemical” method to restore tooth color. Using a higher concentration of whitening agents, under the operation of the doctor in the clinic, the whitening agent can produce a catalytic reaction through the light source, which can achieve the effect of teeth whitening in a short time. Commonly used light sources are cold light or laser. - Home whitening
As the name suggests, it allows patients to take home trays and whitening agents. After the doctor’s guidance, they can easily complete the teeth whitening treatment at home. Home whitening also uses “chemical” methods to whiten teeth. First, the doctor makes an impression in the clinic to make a customized dental tray, so that it is closely attached to the surface of the tooth, so that the whitening agent is more adhered to the surface of the tooth, so that the agent has a better whitening effect. The patient puts the whitening agent on the tooth tray at home, and then wears it by himself.Home whitening uses a relatively low concentration of cold light/laser whitening agents, which has a low chance and degree of side effects of tooth sensitivity, but it takes a relatively long time to achieve the desired effect. The whitening tray needs to be worn for about 6-8 hours a day and lasts for about 4 weeks.
- All-ceramic patch/all-ceramic crown (braces)
All-ceramic patches/all-ceramic crowns belong to the “covering” whitening method, which belongs to the category of dentures. To make this type of denture, you need to “grind off a layer of the tooth surface”, and then apply an all-ceramic patch or all-ceramic crown to the tooth surface with a high-strength adhesive. This method can improve tooth shape and color at the same time.
Advantages of teeth whitening
Once teeth are white, people will look younger, healthier, and more confident….
