Our team knows how important a bright smile is, so we know how much people value good teeth whitening. While you can find over-the-counter options at pharmacies and big box stores, these don’t offer the same level of whitening as our professional selection. With our take-home teeth whitening kit, we can brighten your smile by multiple shades! In today’s blog, your Ankeny, IA, dentist talks about at-home teeth whitening.
The Causes of Your Teeth Stains
How do teeth stains form on our smiles? For some, factors like poor brushing and flossing and a diet with a lot of sugar could create plaque buildup, which makes stains more visible (and increase the risk of cavities and gum disease). Consuming drinks with dark pigments, such as soda, tea, red wine, and coffee, could also discolor your smile. Stains could potentially occur due to tobacco use or a lack of dental cleaning every six months. When we look at your smile, we will assess stains and whether you have extrinsic (forming on the surfaces) or intrinsic (forming beneath the enamel) discoloration.
At-Home Teeth Whitening
For most extrinsic stains and some minor intrinsic ones, we can offer brighter smiles with our take-home teeth whitening kit. The process involves stopping by our office so we can take detailed digital images of your smile and use this to create a custom set of -plastic trays. When you leave, you take these trays with you, along with several plastic syringes of bleaching gel. At home, you add the gel to the trays and then wear for the amount of time we recommend, usually an hour a day. After one to two weeks, you could have teeth up to eight shades brighter, and the trays and leftover gel are then yours for touch-ups as needed in the months to come.
Masking Discoloration with Bonding
What if you have serious intrinsic teeth stains? If this is the case, we could mask them with dental bonding! Using the same composite resin material employed as part of our tooth-colored fillings, we can cover up your discoloration. We shade the material to blend with your smile. In addition to masking discoloration, this can fill gaps between teeth, repair minor damage, and lengthen worn down teeth. We can also reshape malformed teeth too!
If you have any questions about teeth whitening or about dental bonding, then contact our team today. We want to help you smile with confidence again using cosmetic dentistry.
Dental Impressions Offers Brighter Smiles
Our team wants to help remove or mask your discoloration, so you can feel good showing off your smile to the world. To schedule your appointment and learn more about brightening your teeth, then call Dental Impressions in Ankeny, IA today at (515) 965-0230.
