Teeth Whitening Archives | Williams Family Dentistry

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.
We offer Holistic Dentistry.