With constant brushing of our teeth as we age, the enamel of our teeth starts getting cracks and scratches. The cracks in the enamel which are like porcelain that covers the yellowish dentin, gather debris and stains, which makes your teeth appear dull and lose their luster. The stains can come from numerous things such as drinking coffee, tea or smoking cigarettes. This makes a lot of people turn to teeth whitening in hopes of getting their pearly whites back.
Teeth Whitening versus Teeth Bleaching
Teeth whitening is the process of bringing back the tooth's natural color, which is usually done by eliminating the debris and dirt that accumulates over the years and eventually changes the tooth's color. Teeth bleaching is under teeth whitening that tries to turn back the time on your teeth to achieve a whiter smile buy using oxidizing agents like carbamide peroxide which reacts with your saliva to become hydrogen peroxide. There are also products that use hydrogen peroxide, these products unfortunately do not whiten the teeth, they just clean and lift the dirt from the enamel's surface.
Teeth Whitening Products
Most whitening products on the market that do not use teeth bleaching principle to take the debris from the enamel. A lot of toothpaste type products have tooth whitening ingredients in them like silica or calcium carbonate that help deal with stains that build up on the tooth. Unfortunately these ingredients take a very long time to show any results.
Teeth Bleaching Products
These products are more of popular alternatives as they give faster results compared to the products that contain no bleaching. Teeth bleaching can be done at your dentist and also within your own home. If you have really deep stains it mite be best that you consult your dentist and have a teeth bleaching in his office.
The dentists usually require you to make a couple trips, as the first trip they make a mold of your teeth and then the second trip they give you your molded mouthpiece and your whitening gel. The whitening gel they give you has 9%-35% hydrogen peroxide, depending on how much they feel you need. This can be quite pricey to visit a dentist to get your whitening done but you may see a better result in the short term.
Teeth bleaching can also be done at home either by buying teeth whitening kits online or from your local dentist. Tooth whitening products actually help the best with long-term results because you are able to use the product on a more frequent basis.
