Over-the-Counter Whitening vs Professional Teeth Whitening – Which One Wins?
If you’re looking for a safe and effective way to improve the appearance of your teeth, whitening treatment may be just the thing for you.
Teeth whitening’s availability and popularity have been growing steadily, and whitening has become one of the most common cosmetic treatments.
But if you’ve been considering whitening your teeth, you’ve probably noticed that many pharmacies and grocery stores offer relatively inexpensive over-the-counter whitening kits.
And it may seem that this is an easier way to whiten your teeth; without the hassle of visiting the dentist.
At Passion Family Dental North Lakes, however, we feel that the best, quickest, safest, and most efficient way to whiten your teeth is to use our professional whitening services.
While over-the-counter whitening can help your smile, professional whitening is a quicker, safer, more efficient choice.
Why whiten the teeth?
Whiter teeth can improve your life in multiple ways. A study published in Psychology and Aging showed that when people guess ages, they estimate smiling faces to be younger than faces with angry or neutral expressions.
Other studies have shown that a great smile can improve social life, wages, and even your love life.
Let’s examine your options, and which seems to be best!
Over-the-Counter Options
There are many choices for bleaching teeth at home; the most common include:
Tooth whitening strips or gels. Applied straight to the teeth with a brush or a thin strip, these peroxide-based products are usually applied once or twice a day for 10 to 14 days.
Results typically last less than four months, and the whitening effect is not that dramatic. In addition, this generally only work on the front six teeth, leaving the background of your smile still dingy and discoloured.
Tooth whitening toothpaste. Every toothpaste helps remove stains from teeth, due to their mildly abrasive natures.
Whitening toothpaste also contains polishing agents or chemicals that help clean stains from teeth without the aid of a bleaching agent.
These kinds of toothpaste only brighten teeth by about one shade. Be careful of whitening toothpaste that contains additional abrasives, as these can harm your tooth enamel.
Tray-based tooth bleaching systems. In this option, a mouthguard-like tray is filled with a peroxide-based bleaching solution and placed over the teeth for a set period, for up to four weeks.
You can buy tray-based tooth whitening systems over-the-counter or have one custom-fitted by your dentist.
Potential problems with Over-the-Counter whitening
Burning/damage
Over-the-counter whitening, because it is unsupervised, can lead to improper application, resulting in damaged gums and soft tissues over-the-counter bleaching gels can cause mouth infections, blistering and burns to gums, damage to nerves and tooth enamel, and gum-recession.
Tooth damage
The British Dental Journal conducted a study that discovered that active ingredients found in three over-the-counter products, could, in the presence of an acid, ‘significantly reduce the hardness of the teeth and increase the likeliness for future surface abrasions of the teeth.’
Inefficient
A major problem with over-the-counter whiteners is that they are not as effective as professional whitening.
Professional whitening can whiten from several shades, lasting years, depending on the food and drinks you consume. Over-the-counter whitening is less effective and lasts considerably less time.
Advantages of Professional Whitening at Passion Family Dental North Lakes
The professional custom take-home whitening kit
Your dentist will conduct a complete oral examination and teeth cleaning before whitening, as the presence of underlying oral health issue or plaque will affect the outcome.
The dentist takes impressions of your teeth and fabricates special trays that are designed especially for you. You are given whitening material and detailed instructions on how to apply them and for how long.
This form of whitening is more gradual, and therefore patients experience less sensitivity and feel more in control. For one thing, patients can determine, to a certain extent, just how white they want their teeth to be.
If trays are stored correctly between uses, additional whitening material can be purchased for ‘touch-up’ bleaching after your treatment is successfully concluded.
In-chair teeth whitening
You can have professional whitening at Passion Family Dental North Lakes and faster results.
Before whitening, we clean your teeth to remove plaque. We protect your gums and other soft tissues to avoid irritation from the bleaching gel, and make sure you do not swallow anything.
We can use a higher concentration of whitening gel than found in over-the-counter products as our whitening is under the control of a dentist. We monitor the treatments until you reach your desired shade, which usually takes about an hour.
Teeth Whitening at Passion Family Dental North Lakes
At Passion Family Dental North Lakes, we believe high-quality dental care can only be achieved by placing our customers first.
We have free parking, allocated specifically for our patients available on-site, as well as on-street parking.
We are wheelchair friendly!
North Lakes dentist also serves local communities in Mango Hill, Deception Bay, Griffin, Murrumba Downs, Redcliffe, Narangba, Petrie, Burpengary, Bracken Ridge and Morayfield.
Customised Take-Home Whitening Kits for only $180 per arch*
To book an appointment, call us on (07) 3465 1199 or book your appointment online.
We are located at Unit 4/6 Endeavour Boulevard in North Lakes.