Why Whiten Your Teeth?
Smile is the major factor in representing a person. And teeth play a major role in it. A smile can win over the eyes, colour of skin and the shape of face. If your teeth are white and in good health, you can win hearts. But due to discolouration and yellowing of teeth, one loses confidence while smiling and shuns.
Many factors can cause your teeth for becoming discoloured:
- Use of Antibiotics – The use of antibiotics during early years of life, or exposing teeth to high levels of fluoride or tetracycline can begin dullness or discolouring of teeth.
- Certain types of foods – Oranges, carrots and other foods can yellow teeth, as well coffee, tea, and foods and drinks with tannins (like red wines).
- Tobacco Use – Both smoking and chewing can lead to an unsightly smile.
- Genetics – Genes are one of the major factors in discolouring of teeth.
- Age – Teeth usually get darker as one gets older.
At Home or in the Dental Office – What’s the Difference?
Once you’ve made the decision to brighten your smile, you can either use over-the-counter remedies or let a dentist whiten your teeth. At-home treatments include:
- Rinses – These easy-to-use, mouthwash-type rinses whiten smiles gradually, since they’re only in contact with teeth for a short time.
- Toothpastes – Since these toothpastes remove surface stains with enzymes or mild abrasives, they can make teeth sensitive.
- Gel strips – For best effect, these peroxide-based strips need to be applied once a day, usually for 30 minutes to two hours, and work best when used for 10 to 20 days.
- Whitening gels – Though these gels can be applied with a toothbrush or cotton swab, they’re most commonly used with plastic mouth trays. A gel-filled mouth tray can whiten your teeth faster than any other method but is also more likely to irritate the gums, since these trays are not custom-made.
Dentists also use mouth trays but fit them in your mouth. And since dentists can protect your gums during the procedure, they can use stronger whitening agents than at-home remedies contain, and can lighten your teeth as much as ten shades in just an hour.
You can consult your dentist who can suggest you which one would be better for you, depending on your budget, availability of time and also taking in consideration the health of your teeth and gums.