For a lighter and brighter smile!

For many people, the only thing their smile needs is to be whiter and brighter.  Teeth whitening or bleaching is a safe, effective way to remove stain and whiten your teeth.  Please ask if whitening would work for you.  Whitening will not affect the shade of existing fillings or porcelain crowns, so sometimes porcelain veneers or dental bonding may be preferable.  There are several ways to go about whitening your teeth:

• Professional, custom made whitening trays   –   we can take a set of impressions and fabricate custom made trays that fit perfectly over your teeth.  At home, you place the peroxide whitening gel that is only available through a dentist into the custom trays.  Unlike the strips, the custom trays can whiten all of your teeth and may contain ingredients intended to provide maximum comfort.  You may start to see results in as little as three or four days but it often takes ten to fourteen days to complete.  You may then need to do a few days of “touch-up” bleaching every year or two, depending on your diet and habits.  One of the keys to success is continuing the whitening on consecutive days or nights.
• Whitening Strips   –   Teeth whitening strips are a thin, clear film of plastic with a peroxide whitening gel already loaded on the film.  You simply place the strip across your teeth and press into place.  Whitening strips usually will not conform to the curvatures of your teeth as well as custom trays and often do not extend far enough back to whiten your entire smile.
• Paint-On Whiteners   –   One of the many over-the-counter, easily accessible whitening products.  They are usually less expensive and less effective as strips or any professional option.  To use them, you simply brush on the whitening gel that usually hardens into a filmy coating on your teeth and slowly dissolves into your mouth.
• Whitening Toothpastes and Mouthwashes   –   Another over-the-counter option that is usually the least expensive.  Whitening toothpastes and mouthwashes have special chemical or polishing agents that provide additional surface stain removal effectiveness.  They are different than any of the peroxide gels in custom trays, strips or paint-on whiteners because they only remove stains on the surface and do not change the color of the teeth.