What You Should Know About Dental Whitening Systems
March 7th, 2008There is little doubt that a professional dental whitening system is very expensive. Some of the procedures cost more than $1000 and may require more than one visit to the dentist. Most people, unless their teeth are very stained, elect to use a home tooth bleaching system, such as Crest White Strips or other home kits that lighten the color of the teeth.
If you are interested in how these products work, then read on and you will realize that in very many cases there is no need to visit a cosmetic dentist in order to keep a nice white smile.
At first these kits consisted of a plastic tray containing a gel-like bleaching agent.The apparatus was molded to the shape of the user’s mouth and upon filling the tray with the gel, was left there overnight. After a few hours the gel lost its usefulness, and the throat and gums became irritated due to the length of time the substance had to be left in the mouth.
Crest White Strips have eliminated the need for such burdensome apparatus and having to leave the bleach on throughout the night. The strips are placed on the teeth and left there for between fifteen and twenty minutes twice a day.
Some of the new types of whitening strips are applied only at night. The reason is that most people, after brushing their teeth at night, do not eat or drink anything until they wake up in the morning, therefore leaving the whitening agent on the tooth surface longer.
There are teeth whitening kits such as Equate which can be found in Wal-Mart and in many cases these are just as effective as the brand name products. You can always check the effectiveness of a whitening kit by looking at the active ingredients. You will probably find they are the same as those on the Crest strips, so you may be able to save a little more by using a generic product.
If in the past you have encountered enamel problems with your teeth, the use of a dental whitening system may not be recommended. The gel can cause irritation, pain and in some instances, an allergic reaction may be the result of using this kind of product.
On the other hand most people do not experience problems when using these kits and take advice from the dentist about which tooth whitening product best suits them, taking into account their dental history.
