Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Teeth bleaching question	jpollardsmith	11/27/03
Hi there, I'm a 38-yr-old male and, for a lot of my life, I didn't take good care of my teeth. After three painful cavities, I now do the recommended daily cleaning of my teeth. A problem I have though is that my teeth are somewhat yellowish and I wish they were whiter. But I also have a low income and I can't afford bleaching in a dentist's office. Drugstores have many teeth bleaching products. I was wondering what your professional opinion is of the OTC bleaching products? Do you think they are effective? Thanks a lot. John
Answered By		Answered On
agentledentist		11/29/03
Hi jpollardsmith' All whitening can cause teeth sensitivity, sometimes even cause pain. So, even if you would like to use non-professional whitening products, it's still advisible to have your teeth checked by a dentist first. Secondly, the whitening material is meant to be applied on teeth and not on gum. Therefore, the application tray should be made to measure free from gum so that any excess material over the gum can be wiped off. Whitening toothpaste cannot whiten teeth. They are just helpful to maintain whitness of teeth after you've gone through a whitening process by reducing re-staining of the teeth. All OTC whitening products basically have the same active ingradient and therefore have similar effect. Just check and compare the ingradient yourself. A product with a higher contration of the active ingradient (hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide) will have a stronger whitening effect, but also has a higher chance of causing teeth sensitivity.

Additional Options and ratings are only visible when you login!