Teeth Whitening Archives | Williams Family Dentistry

Whitening Teeth with Lemons

Posted on December 31, 2024 by writeradmin.

One of my friends has been experimenting with DIY ways to whiten her teeth. She told me she had the most whitening from lemons. I was thinking about trying the lemons, but my husband thinks I should check with a dentist first. I don’t want to ask my dentist because, obviously, he’ll want me to get my teeth whitened with him. I’m not your patient, so I feel that I can be more confident in your response. So, what do you think?

Olivia

Dear Olivia,

Lemons

I am glad you wrote. I want you to do your friend a favor and save her teeth. While the citric acid in the lemons will make her teeth look whiter, it will only be temporary. Her teeth will eventually become darker as a result. This is because the acid in the lemons will etch her teeth. At first that creates a creamy look, which can appear whiter. Once that wears off, she has damaged enamel that will pick up stains much more rapidly than if her enamel were intact.

In fact, if you are going to drink anything with citric acid, including sodas or other fruit juices do not let it sit in your mouth. If you are going to brush your teeth immediately afterward, make sure you swish some water around in your mouth to neutralize the acid. Otherwise, you will end up grinding that acid into your teeth.

There is a similar issue with over the counter whitening toothpastes. Almost all of them use abrasives to remove the staining on your teeth. This will damage your teeth. There is a safe whitening toothpaste, Supersmile Toothpaste. This uses a protein pellicle to remove stains.

There isn’t a great DIY option. However, something like Crest Whitestrips does work and will whiten your teeth. The only real downside is that they will only get six teeth and the whitening gel is significantly weaker than what you’d get with professional teeth whitening through your dentist, so you will have to buy quite a few kits to match what your dentist can do in a much shorter period of time.

Please encourage your friend to stop.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington Dentist Dr. James E. Williams.
Click here to read about smile makeovers with porcelain veneers.

Is Tanda Pearl Ionic Teeth Whitening Safe?

Posted on May 28, 2024 by writeradmin.

I have been doing teeth whitening and my dentist has me wearing the trays overnight. This has been aggravating my TMJ Disorder. I recently read about something called the Tanda Pearl Ionic Teeth Whitening system. It says that you only have to wear the trays for five minutes a day. I think that would be a lot easier on my jaw. However, if it works that fast, I wonder it is safe. Do you know much about this system?

Carolyn

Dear Carolyn,

I’m glad you wrote. The whitening gel they use appears safe and will eventually whiten your teeth. However, there are some things to consider. If your main reason for using the Tanda Pearl is to help with the TMJ issues, I don’t think you are going to get the relief you want from that.

The biggest problem I see with the treatment is the trays they have you use. The trays your dentist provided you with are separate, one for each arch of your mouth. The Tanda Pearl has a homemade tray that you form to your bite by biting down on it. There is only one tray, though. This means that you have to bite down on it the entire time you are using the tray. Even though it is only for five minutes, this will hurt your jaw significantly more than the trays you’re wearing.

Another issue these trays have is that there will be no way to keep your saliva all the way out or the teeth whitening gel in place. This makes it less effective and you will have to use much more of it to get the same whitening results.

The best solution for you is to simply wear your whitening trays for less time each day. There is nothing magical about wearing the trays overnight. It just makes the whitening faster. You can still whiten your teeth, it will just take a little longer.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington Cosmetic Dentist Dr. James E. Williams.
Click here to learn about a porcelain veneers.

Premium Home Whitening Kit

Posted on February 1, 2024 by writeradmin.

I was thinking of buying a Premium Home Whitening Kit that I saw an advertisement for because it is about $50 less than my dentist charges for teeth whitening. $50 is $50. However, my sister says that the kits are a waste of money. Do you know about about this product?

Belinda

Dear Belinda,

Looking at this kit, I would say it has one thing in the pro column and another in the con column. I’ll tell you about both and you can decide if it is worth the money.

First, the whitening ingredient it uses is made of 35% carbamide peroxide. This is similar to what a dentist would use so I would count that in the pro column. What bothers me is the trays that you will be provided with to use the whitening gel. Their tray is not going to fit well, which means there will be leakage of the gel escaping the tray. This means you are not getting as much of the whitening effect.

You’ll also have saliva getting into the tray, which will dilute the gel that has actually remained in place. Both of these will have the affect of you needing to buy several kits in order to get the same amount of whitening strength that you would get with your dentist. I think in the long run, you will end up spending more than you would have if you just had it done by a dentist.

When you have professional teeth whitening done and a dentist makes your trays, they custom fit it to your bite, ensuring that your whitening gel stays in the tray and your saliva stays out.

Bottom line: It will whiten your teeth but not as efficiently as your dentist will.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. James E. Williams.

Will Whitestrips Damage My Porcelain Veneers?

Posted on November 30, 2023 by writeradmin.

I have four porcelain veneers. They are still white, but the teeth next to them are yellowing. I want to whiten my teeth but I don’t want to damage my porcelain veneers. I am planning on using Crest Whitestrips. Will they work? If so, will they do any damage?

Catherine T.

Dear Catherine,

Teeth Bleaching Trays

Crest Whitestrips do work. They have some downsides but they do use a legitimate whitening ingredient. Whitening your teeth will not damage your porcelain veneers. However, I want you to get the best care possible so I want to go over some things to consider before you make your final decision.

First, the whitestrips are not nearly as strong was professional teeth whitening. The whitestrips will have about 6% strength. The professional whitening will be more like 33% strength. As you can see it would take quite a few boxes of whitestrips to give you the same amount of whitening you would get with a dentist.

A second issue would be that the whitestrips will only cover about six of your teeth. If you have four veneers, that means two of the teeth will be getting whitened. You can however, double the number of strips you use each time and put one on the left and another on the right of the porcelain veneers. That means you will need even more kits.

Third, the strips will be mingled with your saliva which weakens their effectiveness even further. Finally, you’ve got to deal with the fact that there is nothing to protect your gums from the peroxide gel used to whiten your teeth. This can cause some irritation.

I think you would be better off with professional whitening. You will have safety measures protecting your gums and the whitening will be much stronger, allowing you to whiten your teeth much faster. Your dentist can even fit them to only go over your natural teeth and leave your porcelain veneers untouched by the gel.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington Cosmetic Dentist Dr. J.E. Williams.

Pain with Teeth Whitening

Posted on August 8, 2021 by writeradmin.

I have been using Crest Whitestrips for a while now. It was going fine until this past week. Every once in a while I get this horribly painful zing. It lasts about 15-20 seconds, but almost floors me. It is right where I had some dental bonding done to repair a chipped tooth about 11 years ago. Is it possible that the teeth whitening is weakening the bonding? I’ve stopped whitening for now. Any advice you can provide will be most appreciated.

Karyn

Dear Karyn,

Teeth Bleaching Trays

Teeth whitening is not known to damage any dental bonding. Plus, if you are using Crest Whitestrips, that is significantly less strong than the whitening gel a dentist would use. When the bond to a repair is weakened or old, the repair for the chip will just fall off. There are a couple of possibilities here. One is that your dental bonding has reached its age limit and needs to be replaced. Another is that you have a sensitive area where there was once some composite bonding, but that has worn down.

The solution is either to replace the dental bonding all together or to have your dentist seal that sensitive area. You’ve already paused your whitening, which was smart. Keep it paused until you have this repaired.

If you want to whiten your teeth faster and in a more safe manner, you should consider having your dentist make you a set of teeth bleaching trays, such as the one pictured above. There have been cases of patients needing a root canal treatment after using DIY kits.

One thing to be aware of is that teeth whitening will not whiten the dental bonding you have. My advice would be just to have your dentist repair the sensitive area, whiten your teeth to the level of whitening you want, then replace the chip repair so it can match your new color.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. John Weaver.

Teeth Whitening and Uneven Color

Posted on February 16, 2021 by writeradmin.

My daughter recently had her braces removed. There were white spots on her teeth that she was embarrassed about. Our dentist just got a Zoom Whitening thing and suggested we whiten her teeth with that because it would only take one appointment. We liked the idea of a quick fix and so agreed. Somehow, her teeth look worse. Did the dentist do something wrong?

Angie

Dear Angie,

If you mean did your dentist do the procedure wrong, then probably not. The only thing she did wrong is suggesting the wrong procedure. Zoom Whitening is a very effective teeth whitening method, however, it whitens the teeth evenly. So while the structure surrounding the white spots do get whiter, so do the spots themselves. This will make the teeth look worse, as your daughter experienced.

Using at-home whitening, such as with the teeth bleaching trays that are pictured above, won’t help either. Your daughter’s teeth aren’t stained. What she’s facing is decalcification. This is the result of the area around her braces not getting thoroughly cleaned enough. This is a common situation with braces. Those metal wires and brackets are tough to get around.

There are a couple of things you can try. The first is to purchase some tooth mousse. This is designed to help re-calcify those areas. If that doesn’t work, your next option is to see an expert cosmetic dentist and have them do dental bonding on the areas. This is not a procedure you want your dentist to do. It is much more advanced than teeth whitening and she didn’t have an understanding of even the basics. You’ll need to find an expert cosmetic dentist.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. John Weaver.