How white should your teeth really be?

Teeth whitening has become the country’s No. 1 requested cosmetic dental procedure, according to the American Academy of Cosmetic dentistry. There’s no shortage of ways to whiten. The main differences seem to be cost and professional oversight versus convenience and over-the-counter availability. There are three technologies. The first is an in-office system that uses a higher-concentration peroxide to get faster results. The second involves bleaching gel in trays custom fit to an individual’s teeth applied intermittently over a couple of weeks. The final way is also the cheapest: Over-the-counter options that can be strips, gels or plastic trays. If a young person uses these products before his or her permanent teeth are completely and fully grown, then the whitening does not make sense.

If the teeth are bleached and then more surfaces are exposed due to normal tooth maturation, the new growth and the older bleached tooth might not match. That might leave a two-toned appearance, not exactly the dazzling white look originally sought While most dentists agree that whitening, done properly, usually doesn’t damage the teeth, they urge those who are thinking of bleaching, whether professionally or through over-the-counter products, to first talk to a dentist. One of the reasons we want people to do this in a professional setting is that sometimes teeth are dark for reasons of trauma or decay. That is important, and sometimes if the teeth are whitened, it will mask that problem that we could have found out if they had had an exam before they start the whitening process. Because in the end, after all that whitening, you do want to be sure that where your mouth is concerned, you still have plenty to smile about