A lesson in teeth whitening

I had a dentist appointment last Friday and found out some interesting facts about teeth whitening that I thought I would pass on to ya all. First off, if you are thinking about whitening, the hygienist suggested that two weeks prior to using any whitening product you switch to sensitive toothpaste, like Sensodyne. Most regular toothpaste has ‘sodium laurly sulfate’ , which is what makes the toothpaste suds and also takes a protective layer off the tooth. (Can’t remember what that protective layer is called…) Anyway, that’s what can make the teeth sensitive after years of brushing.

Now if you bleach your teeth the follicles in your teeth open up. Yes, you have follicles in your teeth just like your hair. (Interesting, didn’t know that.) When those follicles are open they will take color/stain so if you are bleaching do not eat or drink anything that will stain your teeth for 12 hours after you bleached. You need to give your teeth time for the follicles to close back up.

The dentist office offers much better products to whiten than “over the counter”. Of course, much more pricey too! What she recommend was custom designed trays and syringes to the tune of $390. Sorry, don’t think so! They also offer the Crest Whitestrips Professional for $95. They have better, longer lasting chemicals than the Wal-Mart Crest strips. But she said that if you were going to go the over the counter way, using strips, Colgate’s White Strips were the best. Then she said for the best overall effect though using trays were better still than strips. There are some over the counter products that use trays but I haven’t researched what they are yet.

One last note. If you have any crowns or bridges they will remain the color they already are!! They will not whiten or lighten with the bleaching. So…if you’re sporting a three crown bridge like I am…BEWARE! I’m still thinking about it. Do I want to risk sensitivity? Will my bridge stick out like a sore thumb? Will I end up like Ross on that one episode of “Friends”? And probably the most deciding factor of all…will I spend that much money on myself??? Oh the vanity of vanities!!