Countless whitening products line the shelves in your local drugstore, claiming that they can perform a miraculous smile transformation. But can these toothpastes, mouthwashes, and kits really deliver on their promises?
Our patients at OK Tooth ask that question often. The marketing is clever and the packaging alluring — we understand why teeth whitening is a $3.2 billion global industry. But if you don’t do your research and choose the products and services carefully, you could be throwing your money away.
In Midtown Manhattan, New York, OK Tooth is the place to go for the straight facts and the safest, most effective teeth whitening treatment. Our specialists have years of experience and training, which means you walk away with a whiter smile and healthier teeth. Here’s what you need to know.
Thanks to genetics, everyone’s teeth are varying shades of white, ranging from brilliant pearl tones to ivory to grayish white. However, your natural tone changes as you age, eat, drink, and adopt certain habits. The most common culprits in yellowing teeth are:
Some of these cause surface stains that won’t go away with regular brushing, and others cause damage from within that shows through the surface. The result is a dingy yellow or brown hue that makes you look and feel older and less confident when you smile.
If you have minor extrinsic stains on your teeth — those caused by food and drinks — you may have some luck with over-the-counter (OTC) whitening toothpaste and strips. These products typically contain a mild formula of hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide to break down the molecules in the stains.
If you have long-standing or severe stains or yellowing, however, you need a more powerful treatment.
To ensure that you get the results you want, don’t waste your time with OTC gimmicks; professional teeth whitening is the way to go. We use the Philips Zoom! LightSpeed Light-Activated Whitening System because it consistently delivers excellent results.
This system uses a proprietary gel formula that we activate with a whitening LED accelerator to lighten your teeth by eight shades in a single, one-hour session. Our dental experts ensure your teeth are safe throughout the treatment, a promise you can’t get from OTC products.
The Zoom! system can wipe out nearly all surface stains, but intrinsic stains, which come from within, may not respond well to any teeth whitening treatment. For example, if your teeth turned gray after taking the antibiotic tetracycline, a bleaching treatment may deliver only minor improvements. The same is true for injured or worn teeth.
Also, teeth whitening doesn’t work as well if you have tooth restorations — such as crowns, bonding, or veneers — as it does on natural tooth surfaces.
Don’t lose heart if you have intrinsically discolored teeth — we can still help. Our OK Tooth team offers state-of-the-art cosmetic dentistry to restore your smile, whether you have severely discolored, missing, crooked, misshapen, or damaged teeth.
After we examine your teeth, we may recommend:
Do you want whiter, brighter teeth? To find out which treatment is the best for yellowing teeth, contact OK Tooth online or by phone to schedule a consultation with our experts.
