If you are unhappy about the appearance of your teeth, specifically the colour, there may come a time when you decide to do something about it. After all, just about anything is possible these days in the field of self-improvement.
You can get your body into better shape, change the colour of your hair or have a radical makeover of your wardrobe so that your clothes make you look better. So, why not bring your teeth up to standard too?
You know it can be done, or at least you know that there are plenty of people offering solutions. The supermarkets and pharmacies are full of toothpaste that claim to have a whitening effect, and if you have tried them, maybe you noticed a tiny improvement – or was that just your imagination?
Some toothpastes contain calcium carbonate, which is a mild abrasive. That means you will be scrubbing your teeth with something more commonly seen as chalk, and while abrasion can remove surface stains, it also removes a certain amount of what the stain is sitting on. Taken to the extreme, this is like sandpapering, and you don’t want to do that to your precious teeth.
Anyway, the concept of improving the colour of your teeth is out there and here is a fact for you: it really can work, if it is done properly and professionally. The two-minute DIY approach is a waste of even those two minutes, but it can be done if you go to an expert.
There is another question, though, which is equally important: is teeth whitening safe for teeth?
Sometimes what seems like a brilliant idea turns out to have a negative aspect that was not understood or even known while the positive side was being enjoyed and embraced. For instance, the world got a bit of a shock when it was revealed that the use of hydrogen peroxide to bleach hair was damaging to the very thing people were trying to improve. That makes it rather alarming that teeth whitening processes also use peroxide. So, is teeth whitening bad?
It is Safe if Done Properly
Is teeth whitening bad for teeth? It’s a simple question, and there is a simple answer: it is safe if it’s done properly. That is to say, if it is carried out by someone who knows what they are doing.
If you think about where the teeth are, it is obvious that care must be taken. They are set in your gums, anchored to jaw bones, with all that delicate flesh around them in the form of cheeks and tongue, plus the gums themselves. Then there is the body’s natural tendency to swallow what is in the mouth, and peroxide is on no one’s list of beneficial substances in that respect. We have to be very careful about what we ingest.
On the teeth themselves, okay, peroxide can do an excellent job, but keeping it in place and focused on what it is doing, is the trick.
How To Have Your Teeth Whitened Safely
What is very clear, then, is that attempting to whiten your teeth yourself is doomed to failure and could be dangerous in more ways than one. You could damage the teeth themselves – and if you start eroding them by treating them harshly, you are asking for trouble. The body is a wonderful soft machine that is self-regenerating in many respects. Cut your skin and it will heal, break a bone and it can knit itself back together. But teeth? The top layer is enamel, which is made of minerals, so it cannot rebuild itself in the way that living tissue can.
Under the enamel is dentine, which can heal itself, but if you’re dealing with dentine, it means you’ve dispensed with the enamel, so obviously that is not good.
Just as when doing DIY around the house it pays to understand what you are doing and the potential pitfalls and consequences, so it is with the body, and the teeth are crucial pieces of equipment that are more vulnerable than they may look.
The way to make sure your teeth whitening is both effective and safe is to go to a dental practice that specialises in this sort of thing.
As we have seen, the teeth inhabit an area where tender tissue is all around, so if whitening chemicals are applied, they must be strictly confined to the teeth. It is possible to buy contraptions that will supposedly isolate the tooth you’re working on, but it will in all probability be imprecise and ineffective. What is needed is something tailor-made, and you just can’t achieve that by buying a teeth-whitening kit over the counter or online. You will be looking at products that claim to be one-size-fits-all, which seldom works in any application, let alone this highly specialised one. So, is teeth whitening safe for teeth? Not if you try to do it yourself. It is perfectly safe, though, if you go to a specialist such as a cosmetic dentist for professional teeth whitening.
Where Can You Find the Right Dental Practice for Teeth Whitening?
The teeth have an indispensable primary function in biting and chewing, but they are also literally in the front line when it comes to our appearance, and this is becoming increasingly important to many people.
We at Smile Society Dental have great experience in the field of cosmetic dentistry. We provide the most comprehensive tooth care service you will find anywhere, including all the repairs, extractions and teeth cleaning that were the dentist’s original function and are still vitally important. But we do a lot more besides. When we are not doing implants and crowns, fitting veneers or working with aligners to straighten teeth, we are helping our patients to achieve a brighter smile quite literally, by bringing their pearly whites back to a beautiful state.
In addition, all of this is done in a friendly practice where we have created a lovely ambience that makes a trip to the dentist a pleasurable experience. If you would like to learn more about cosmetic teeth whitening in Adelaide, please contact us by phone or through the online form. We will be delighted to talk you through the options and help you to achieve your goal: beautiful white teeth.