5 Teeth Whitening Options for Adults

If you’ve been considering some ways that you can obtain your best-looking smile and are concerned about tooth discoloration, take the below options into consideration when making your decision on the best whitening option for your particular condition.

If you love your everyday cup of coffee or tea, and have dark brown stains on your teeth that just won’t go away no matter how much you brush — you can get rid of these stains through a professional teeth whitening procedure, which involves exposing your teeth to a mild bleaching agent that gets rid of stains and discolorations. There are also some things you can do at home to help whiten your teeth, and stave off stains.

Although there are many over-the-counter teeth whitening treatments available today, professional, dentist-supervised treatments are much safer and provide more reliable results. One thing to keep in mind is that teeth tend to become darker as time passes, so even with professional whitening, touch-up treatments are occasionally needed to keep the teeth lightened.

First, it’s important to understand why our teeth tend to discolor.

Our teeth become yellow or discolored for two primary reasons:

• As we age our enamel gets thinner due to abrasives in toothpaste, hard brushing, and acid either from diet or from an acid reflux condition.
• As we age the enamel develops micro-cracks and those cracks begin to pick up stains from the things that we eat and drink like coffee, tea, wine, or some fruit, etc.

That said, there are a number of options for making your teeth look whiter.

In-Chair Whitening

You can make your teeth shades whiter in a day by having an in-chair procedure done at the dentist. Using a procedure such as the Zoom! In-Office Whitening procedure, which is safe, effective and very fast, the dentist can get your teeth to be dramatically whiter in just over an hour. The system allows for immediate results in comparison to traditional whitening systems which require days of wearing trays and gradual whitening that comes with them. A one time in-office whitening works well and will last about 6 months to a year. After the procedure, you may feel some sensitivity for a day or two, however, the sensitivity subsides once the dentinal tubules (pores of teeth) close up again. To help mitigate the sensitivity, it is best to start a Sensodyne toothpaste regimen two weeks prior to whitening procedures. Keep in mind that teeth tend to become darker as time passes, so touch-up treatments are occasionally needed to keep the teeth lightened.

Tray Whitening

Tray whitening is a take-home whitening procedure supervised by your dentist. The whitening is accomplished via a tray that you wear at night or for a prescribed amount of time by your dentist. This method requires a visit to the dentist and an impression to be made of your mouth so that a custom tray, which holds the whitening gel against your teeth, can be made. You then take the trays home with the special whitening gel and manage the whitening on your own. The gel is typically worn for anywhere from 30 minutes to few hours a day for a period of one to three weeks. The drawback is that this procedure takes longer, but the upside is that if you’re looking for a more gradual, controlled change in shade of your teeth, you can have that with the tray procedure.

Whitening Strips

Whitening strips are thin pieces of flexible plastic that are coated in peroxide. These can be bought at almost any pharmacy or supermarket. The package typically contains a set amount of disposable strips that you can use for a period of two weeks. The way to use whitening strips is to attach the strips to the front of your teeth, and wear them about 30 minutes a day for two weeks. The length of this treatment is similar to that of the whitening trays, but it is an entirely DIY treatment without professional supervision and the results typically last around four months.

Toothpaste

Using an enamel building toothpaste can help remineralize the teeth, and help seal the micro-cracks in your teeth which tend to pick up stains. With consistent use of a specially prescribed toothpaste such as Colgate® PreviDent® which delivers four times the fluoride of over the counter toothpaste you can defend the teeth against cavities and protect enamel from further damage, thereby staving off stains.

Another paste which you can get from the dentist called MI Paste which is applied to your teeth after brushing in order to keep them strong. This paste provides enamel support and can help to remineralize teeth to reduce potential for tiny cracks that can harbor stains.

Coconut oil

Oil pulling is an ancient ayurvedic oral detoxification method, which has caught popularity in recent years, due to its natural benefits of cleansing the mouth. The use of coconut oil to oil pull can make your teeth look whiter by keeping your teeth slick, making stains less likely to stick to your teeth.

The way to use coconut oil is to swish it around your mouth for a few minutes and then spit the oil out. When you swish the oil around your mouth, bacteria around your teeth gets trapped in the oil and leave your mouth when you spit out the oil. Plaque traps bacteria around your teeth, so when you swish, you help to remove the plaque and bacteria with it. Coconut oil also keeps your gums healthier. The antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties found in coconut oil can inhibit bacteria that cause bad breath, tooth decay, and gum disease.