Little White Lie #1
The Lie: The best way to get whiter teeth is to use whitening toothpastes.
The Truth: No one would argue that you shouldn’t brush your teeth regularly and whitening toothpaste certainly couldn’t hurt. Brushing your teeth is vital to the health of your teeth as well as being a basic tenet of good hygiene. However, the ingredients in whitening toothpastes just don’t spend enough time in direct contact with your teeth to provide the kind of results that people tend to believe that they have.
Your saliva prevents the whitening agents in these toothpastes from being in contact long enough to do any real good in terms of tooth whitening. The active ingredients in these toothpastes are also usually present in such low concentrations that even if they did spend enough time in contact with your teeth, they still wouldn’t be terribly effective. They’re a great idea, but whitening toothpastes really don’t do anything that regular toothpastes don’t.
Little White Lie #2
The Lie: If you want your teeth whitened, the best course of action is to see your dentist.
The Truth: “Best” can be an ambiguous word sometimes. It is true that your dentist can perform tooth whitening procedures for you. However, it’s not necessarily the case that this is the best way of whitening your teeth. The whitening agents which dentists use in these procedures are generally hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide: the same whitening agents found in at home tooth whitening products.
How effective a tooth whitening system is depends on the concentration of the active ingredients in the gel and how long these whiteners are in direct contact with your teeth.
What does this mean? It’s simple – you can use a high concentration whitening solution for a short period of time as your dentist would, or a lower concentration product for a longer duration; the approach used with do it yourself teeth whiteners.
Of course, there is one other thing to consider here: price. The cost of an office visit and whitening procedure performed by your dentist is far higher than the cost of a whitening treatment which you can administer yourself at home. The results are the same, but the price of doing it yourself is usually 25% or less than the cost of having your dentist perform the procedure. Knowing this, it should come as no surprise to you that more and more people are choosing home tooth whitening systems.
Little White Lie #3
The Lie: All tooth whiteners produce the same results.
The Truth: There is a lot of difference between tooth whitening solutions. Some products are very effective and others are nearly worthless.
Where these products differ is in the whitening agents which are used. Different products may use one or the other of the two most common whitening agents – but the real difference is in the concentration of these agents, which is what really separates an effective product from one which doesn’t get results. Before you choose an at home whitening product, you should examine the available alternatives, keeping in mind what type of staining you’re seeking to reverse and how severe this staining is.
Little White Lie #4
The Lie: Bleaching your teeth damages the teeth and the gums.
The Truth: Teeth whitening systems don’t cause any damage to your teeth or gums. You apply the whitening agent to your teeth and the organic deposits which cause staining or discoloration on the surface of the teeth are removed through oxidation. This process is not harmful to your teeth or gums. However, it is possible that the procedure can cause some very short-lived sensitivity in the teeth. If this is a problem, the effect can be reduced or eliminated simply by shortening the time that the whitening gel spends in contact with your teeth.
It’s possible that these whitening agents can irritate the gums, but this is typically due to poorly fitting whitening trays that cause the gums to come in contact with the whitening product. For this reason, it is highly recommended to use at home whitening systems that use custom whitening trays.
Little White Lie #5
The Lie: Using whitening strips is the best way to get whiter teeth.
The Truth: There’s that word “best” again. However, it is not the case that whitening strips are the best, or even among the best methods of tooth whitening. The problem is that no two people have the same teeth, meaning that a whitening strip can’t conform to the surface of your teeth perfectly. Grooves and depressions in the teeth aren’t affected and even in the best case scenario, a whitening strip can only get the front of your teeth. You’ll get uneven whitening and very unattractive “stripes” of stained teeth – something which can actually look worse than before you started using the strips!
Little White Lie #6
The Lie: Thermoform trays are cheaper and work just as well as custom whitening tray.
The Truth: In reality, you do need a custom whitening tray to get the best results. You wouldn’t assume that someone else’s dentures would fit you properly, would you? A custom tray properly fits your teeth, unlike a whitening strip or a thermoform tray, which leaves unattractive stripes of staining and discoloration where they don’t completely stay in contact with your teeth. A custom tray can also prevent gum irritation by keeping the whitening gel from leaking out of the tray – providing more efficient whitening and less potential for irritation.
Little White Lie #7
The Lie: Paint on style tooth whiteners are the best way to go since they’re the easiest kind to use.
The Truth:It’s absolutely true that the paint on tooth whiteners are incredibly easy to use, but that doesn’t mean that they’re effective. Just like whitening toothpaste, it’s a great idea but it shares the same fatal weakness as toothpastes as far as whitening your teeth goes: the whitening agents used don’t spend enough time in contact with your teeth before being washed away by saliva to be effective. There is the other problem that the concentration of whitening agents is too low to really whiten your teeth – the concentration is low to prevent gum irritation. Even the very best paint on tooth whiteners provide only limited whitening which doesn’t last for long – and they give your teeth an unevenly whitened, unnatural look.
Other paint on tooth whiteners are basically whitewash for the teeth and do nothing to actually remove stains and discoloration.
Little White Lie #8
The Lie: Whitening products which use electroluminescence are more effective, since they activate the tooth whitening agents in the gel
The Truth: The electroluminescence tooth whitening systems certainly look high tech, don’t they? Unfortunately, these systems are only so much hype. The whitening gel is what causes the whitening these systems provide – the electroluminescence does nothing to make the procedure more effective. It may look high tech, but this lighting technology is the same as that used in children’s toys. You may as well save some money and purchase an at home whitening solution which omits the lights – it really doesn’t add anything in terms of whitening.
Little White Lie #9
The Lie: Tooth bleaching procedures work the same for everyone.
The Truth: Everyone’s teeth are as individual as they are – and so are their stains and discoloration. There are stains which are more easily bleached away than others. Yellowish teeth are the easiest to whiten, brownish teeth harder to bleach and grayish stains are the hardest of all to whiten through bleaching.
Little White Lie #10
The Lie: Swallowing tooth whitening gel is harmful
The Truth: There’s no way to whiten your teeth without swallowing a little gel. No matter which whitening product you use, it’s going to happen. The only side effect is the strange taste that these gels have; though there is no risk of injury from swallowing a little tooth whitening gel. Obviously, it’s not recommended to drink the gel in large quantities, but swallowing the small amounts used in tooth whitening procedures isn’t going to hurt anyone.
Before you purchase any teeth whitening items online please make sure you visit Laser Teeth Whitening for further important health and purchase information.Also see more information about cheap teeth whitening. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.