Tooth whitening

As we get older our teeth naturally become darker. If we drink tea, coffee, red wine or consume other food or drink with strong colouring our teeth may become discoloured earlier in our lives. Another major cause of discolouration is smoking, which can make your teeth appear yellow. Tooth decay, fillings and tartar build-up can also contribute to discolouration.

Tooth whitening products can help lighten your teeth. They usually contain either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide, which when they break down, oxygen gets into the surface of the tooth and whitens them. The effects can last from a few months to a few years and the results vary from person to person.

It is important that your teeth are checked by a dentist before starting any tooth whitening treatment. If you have any tooth decay or gum disease this will need to be treated before starting treatment. Bleaching won’t work on false teeth, crowns, veneers or fillings (even tooth colour fillings). Usually the fillings can be replaced after treatment with lighter ones.

Is it Safe?

Tooth whitening is a very safe treatment but it is always recommended that you get your teeth checked by a dentist before starting any kind of whitening. Sensitivity with hot or cold may occur during treatment but quickly goes once treatment has finished. There are gels and pastes we can apply to counteract the sensitivity during treatment.

Here is a range of photos for another patient..

Professional Tooth Whitening

External Bleaching

We will make rubber trays that fit your teeth exactly and give you tubes of bleaching gel, usually carbamide peroxide to put in the trays, and we will show you how to use the trays. You will need to regularly wear the mouth trays for between 2-4 weeks. Results are variable from person to person and older people or people with very dark teeth may require a longer whitening period and more tubes of gel. Cost for this are usually around £250. Sometimes we have offers on so it is always worthwhile keeping an eye on the website.

Power or laser whitening is also done at the practice. We use the world renowned Zoom system as seen on TV’s “Ten Years Younger”. This takes around one and a half hours of treatment time and involves 4 different applications of the gel assisted by boosting from the Zoom light. You may also need to finish off with a few sessions of tray whitening at home and you will be supplied with the trays and gel to do this. Cost for this are £500 and include trays to take home.

Internal Bleaching

If a tooth has darkened because it has had a root canal treatment it should benefit from internal bleaching. We usually take some of the filling out of the back of the tooth to gain access to the root filling and bleaching gel can be put over the top of the root filling. A temporary filling is put over the top. This will need to be repeated regularly a number of times. Different teeth respond differently and results vary, so treatment time also varies from 4 to 10 weeks. Costs for this are £45 per visit so will vary depending on the number of visits required.

Often a combination of internal and external bleaching can have very good results if your teeth have generally darkened but you also have one noticeably darkened tooth that has been root filled.