Care During And After Tooth Whitening Treatment

It is an aesthetic treatment that allows the teeth to clear temporarily, since it lasts approximately 15 days. This temporality is determined by the patient’s habits. Habits that will influence both the results obtained when performing the teeth whitening procedure, as well as the duration of the results obtained. Before having your teeth whitening treatment, first of all you should perform oral hygiene and remove stains from your teeth. Dental stains caused by food or drinks are easy to remove from the surface of the tooth, the most commonly used procedure is the use of abrasive agents such as toothpastes. It is important that if you want to have a teeth whitening, do not go directly to buy products from the pharmacy or supermarket. The best option is that you go to your dentist, in the dental office they will assess the state of your teeth and gums and they will recommend an appropriate treatment for you.

On the other hand, it is important to assess whether there is an aesthetic need to perform this treatment and it is not an obsession to have the teeth of a “nuclear white” color. This whiteness problem is a health problem since whitening without stopping can lead to side effects on the teeth and gums; causing cracks in the enamel, very sensitive, injuring the tooth pulp until it causes pulp necrosis (in general terms, the death of the tooth), even causing translucency in the corners of the teeth and transforming the color of the teeth into a tone more blue. When it comes to bleaching, we recommend to perform the upper or lower arch first and once you have achieved the tone you want, then start with the other arch. It is better since you will see the difference in color between the two dental arches and the whitening really takes effect.

INFLUENCE OF PATIENT HABITS IN THE RESULTS OF DENTAL WHITENING

The effect of the bleaching agent can be slowed by the patient’s daily habits. Therefore, when a patient decides to perform a teeth whitening, then the dentist specializing in dental aesthetics who supervises this treatment, recommends temporarily discontinuing any habit that may adversely affect the success of the whitening procedure.

There are different factors why our teeth darken, stain or discolor:

• Drink wine, coffee, tea, coke, among others.
• Eat foods like carrot, orange, licorice or chocolate,
• The use of tobacco: you have to avoid the consumption of during the time that the teeth whitening lasts since the tobacco stains the teeth and will not let the bleaching agent perform its full effect.
• Some mouthwashes with chlorhexidine, it is better not to use them more than 15 days since it has as a side effect that they stain the teeth if used more than this time.

Teeth whitening can produce sensitivity in the teeth, but this sensitivity or pain that you notice when eating or drinking cold things will disappear as soon as you finish the treatment. In the case that you will notice a lot of sensitivity the treatment would stop for a few days and then you would resume it. There are cases in which the whitening produces sensitivity, in this case it would be better to consult with your dentist and you could improve this problem with the help of toothpastes specific for sensitivity. Like, for example: Desensitizing gel. Indicated for gingival sensitivity, it is applied to the gum of the treated area in case of discomfort. Once the treatment is done you will have to carry out reminders every so often and perform oral hygiene every 6 months, since during your day to day after treatment you will return to drink and eat foods that stain your teeth.