Are You Afraid to Go to the Dentist?

With movie stars, musicians, and even Instagram celebs all rocking gleaming, white smiles, teeth whitening is more popular than ever. Even so, if you value your dental health, you might be wondering if tooth whitening is really safe. The honest answer is, it all depends upon how you whiten your teeth. Read on to learn how teeth whitening can be dangerous and what the safest ways to perform it are.

The Dangers of Whitening

Intense tooth whitening goes far beyond removing stains from one's teeth. While removing stains is typically gentle and provides a whiter smile, finding a way to get a bright white smile can be a bit problematic. Super white smiles are typically achieved by bleaching or effectively dyeing the color of the outside of your teeth super white. Unfortunately, these methods can be quite harmful to your teeth and gums.

Teeth need their external hard shell of enamel in order to stay healthy and strong. Bleaching and other methods can start to break down this enamel, revealing the pulp or dentin underneath. This can cause pain and make you more susceptible to developing cavities.

In addition, many strong teeth bleaching methods can seriously harm gum tissue. Avoiding your gums entirely while bleaching your teeth is very hard, especially since the gumline extends down between your teeth.

Safest Way

The best way for you to get your teeth whitened is to see a dentist. Trying to take your oral health into your own hands or relying upon questionable advice from celebrities isn't a very safe idea.

Dentists have the training and know-how to care for your mouth without harming you. Better yet, dentist methods of whitening teeth are much more powerful and faster than most at-home methods. Dentists take special care to avoid applying anything dangerous to your gums, and they don't use harsh bleach that can damage your teeth.

Dentists can also detect existing damage to your teeth and take necessary steps to care for them before attempting to bleach your teeth. If you have a cavity, chipped filling, or gum disease that you don't know about, you could seriously harm yourself by applying a strong tooth whitening treatment. Your dentist will care for these problems before making any attempts to whiten your teeth.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to have a bright white smile, but there are a lot of wrong ways to go about it. Dentist tooth whitening is generally affordable and has better results than trying to do it at home, so talk to your dentist if you're dissatisfied with the color of your teeth. For more information, talk to a professional like Advanced Dentistry of St. Charles.