Refresh You Smile

Posted Tuesday, September 11, 2007 to PROCEDURES > Smile

Posted by The Original Anti-Aging & Cosmetic Surgery Magazine

Beverly Hills cosmetic dentist Patric Cohen DDS explains to Jodi Thiessen how a whiter smile can rejuvenate the whole face.

A smile can light up a face. If that smile is stained or faded it doesn't have the same effect. Teeth whitening techniques are not new - people have been "bleaching" their teeth successfully for more than a decade. However, with the latest advances, teeth whitening has been made easier and more convenient than ever before.

There are basically two methods used to lighten and brighten teeth: Carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide combined with laser.

Carbamide peroxide

This at-home technique comes in different strengths and with the aid of custom fitted trays it is applied to the teeth between 2-8 hours a day. Beverly Hills dentist Dr Patric Cohen explained: "What happens is the solution causes an oxidation process on the teeth stains Imagine you have a white T-shirt and you have a wine stain on it - the best thing to do is put bleach on it. In this case carbamide peroxide oxidizes the stains on the teeth - the peroxide is releasing oxygen which causes the stain to be washed away."

Carbamide comes in concentration levels of 10-20% so the level of whiteness can be controlled. "Some people want their teeth to look like a white sheet others just want to lighten them up a little,and you can control that," said Dr Cohen. "We take impressions of the mouth then usually the next day fit custom trays. A follow-up two weeks later checks everything is going smoothly Then it's up to the patient to see how white they want to go. Once it has been used four weeks the maximum whiteness is achieved."

There have been no long-term complications reported, however, some patients may get sensitive teeth during the treatment. They are recommended to stop bleaching for a couple of days then go back to it when the mouth has returned to normal. The sensitivity always goes away within 2-3 days.

This technique has been used for many years, but a recent increase in the number of patients may be attributed to its new ease of use. "When I started using it 12 years ago we were using a solution that was inconvenient; it had to be changed every hour or two and would leak into the patient's mouth," said Dr Cohen. The carbamide solution is now much thicker and comes in syringes for easy application. It has also been refined so that it may only be needed two hours a day."

Dental Assisted Bleaching

Dental assisted bleaching is performed in the dentist's chair. Instead of using carbamide peroxide, a 35% hydrogen peroxide solution and a laser or plasma arc light is used for more immediate results. This process takes about 45 minutes and then the patient continues with the carbamide peroxide at-home treatment until the desired results are achieved. "We find that you see results the first day and the following days the teeth keep getting whiter so that within a week or 10 days you have your final results," explained Dr Cohen. With this technique the custom trays need only be used for an hour a day for a week.

The laser or plasma arc light work ito expedite the release of the oxygen. "The difference between these modern techniques and a regular light, which is the way it was done before, is you had to keep the patient in the chair for a couple of hours. This cuts the time in half," explained Dr Cohen.

The level of whiteness achieved can also be controlled with this method. The procedure can be performed up to three times in one sitting. "The patient just tells the dentist how white they want to go," said Dr Cohen.

What Can Be Treated

These methods of teeth whitening are especially good for stains made by coffee, tea, red wine, cola, tobacco, marijuana and aging. The stains that are most difficult to eradicate are the discoloration that were caused by tetracycline taken as a child. Dr Cohen explained: "It can take up to six months to see a difference." Other stains that are difficult to remove are caused by old silver fillings which have leeched into the enamel of the tooth. These stains can be covered with veneers or crowns.

Dr Cohen warns against using off-the-shelf at-home whitening treatments because there is the possibility of ulceration of gum tissue. Also whitening will only whiten natural teeth; if a patient has crowns or fillings they may need to be changed afterwards to match the new whiter teeth.

Once the teeth have been restored to their original whiteness, the change is often quite dramatic, rejuvenating the whole face, not just the smile.

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