Teeth whitening
Dentistry ever since it came into being has been doinggreatest service to humanity. Be it addressing painful tooth, jaw bone issues, functionality of teeth,infected gums, swollen faces, Stinking mouth, dryness in mouth, Hot and coldsensitivity and other life threatening issues.
From the requirements of emergency issues dentistry has beenserving humanity on need basis. This need based services have saved people fromagonizing situations like, all of sudden jaw pains, throbbing excruciatingtooth ache, fractured teeth and jaws, all these have had been well addressedand timely served.
As the advances happen new innovations for people tocherish, for people to enjoy and for people to sleep relaxed were introduced,worked, applied and enjoyed by masses. Thisrevolution made dentistry to change from NEED BASE to WANT BASE protocol. Nowwith the advent of most reliable and most satisfying concepts, technology isparallel tool to help humanity enjoy this kind of achievement. Among all thesenew concepts, besides dental implants, we have now cosmetic dentistry toolsbeing advocated for patients needs; patients’ confidence and overall stature ofwell being with regard to dentistry as a facilitator in providing any wish fulltreatment..
So my dear readers let me take a privilege to introduce you the most wanted and soughtafter option – Teeth Whitening or TeethBleaching.
Teeth whitening is in fact the very inner wish of everyhuman soul, like maintaining oral hygiene is very religiously thought andadopted by everyone. However, every community had different ideas ofmaintaining oral hygiene practices. This concept is the essence of dentistry.Recognition of this basic need is all how dentistry came into existence. soteeth whitening modified the ways people want their teeth to look great, tolook whiter and to enhance smile. Teeth whitening is specialized procedurewhich is done in two ways, both ways only dentist can help.
1. Home bleaching
Let us talk about Home bleaching..
Here patient is nothappy from the looks of teeth (in terms of colour, shine and cleanliness). Thedentist examines the patient, evaluates and gives patients a set of treys (which are patient specific) and one bleaching kit ( which contains a specialgel ) to be used by patient at home for about 7-8 days ( regularly for nighttime). By doing this patient slowlystarts noticing the effect from brownish discoloration to lighter shades. Ifthe results is not significantly visible in 8 days, patient needs to continue for another weekand it starts showing. Home bleaching is safer and can be done anytime bypatients after consulting dentist. Avoid over the counter available whiteningagents. Bleaching is not scaling. Bleaching helps change the shades while asscaling only removes ugly deposits from teeth. Yes bleaching should be precededby scaling. This technology is fruitful for frequent travelers, businessperson, ladies who cannot visit dentist frequently, and those who are confined. It brings confidence to help maintain oralhygiene as well. However, it has been seen people lose patience not seeingresults immediately, and in that situation they don’t do home bleachingpractice regularly, thereby don’t benefit from it.
2. Office Bleaching
This method of teeth whitening is most trusted, resultoriented and immediate. This method requires patient to sit with dentist forone and half hours. Here this method is used with a specialized equipment whichis Light Activated or Laser Activated. Here a dentist after examining a patientapplies preventive measures, Isolates teeth, applies gum protecting gel, andpaints a specialized whitening gel. Activates it either with specialized lightor laser equipment. it is purely dentist’s choice. Before the procedure startsdentist records the existing shade or colour of teeth to make the comparisonafterwards. This office bleaching is done in two to three cycles of ( 15-20minutes intervals) and patient on chair itself starts feeling results. Thismethod does require only short period of time and you get immediate results,plus the result gets better and better in next 48 hours. During this periodpatients are advised not take any colouring agent (spicy foods, coloured juicesany coloured tooth paste). Patient isgiven Hydrogen Peroxide mouth rinse to enhance the whitening. After bleaching,you are supposed to maintain this effect by:
1. Regularlybrushing teeth
2. Dentalflossing.
3. 6 monthlyvisits to Dentist
Have a Nice Smile
Dr. Mohammad Shafie is Diplomat Implantology..ICOI, Mastership in Cosmetic Dentistry. Columbia University