Teeth Whitening: These Methods Conjure Up a Bright White Smile

Teeth whitening is not only popular with celebrities. Stars like Cardi B know the power of a perfect smile and invest thousands of dollars in their teeth. There are now many ways that you can whiten your teeth easily and cheaply at home. Women’s Alphabet reveals the advantages and disadvantages of teeth whitening products.

Whether seductive smile or contagious laughter – well-groomed, white teeth beautify every appearance. If you haven’t been naturally blessed with a Hollywood smile, stripes, pencils and the like can help and whiten your teeth. You can find out which methods are available here.

How to whiten your teeth at home

Red wine, cigarettes, coffee, tea, certain medications or genetic predispositions discolor our teeth and can ruin even the most beautiful smile. However, you don’t have to put up with that. These products are popular for home teeth whitening:

• Whitening gel
• Whitening strips
• Whitening pen
• Whitening powder
• Whitening Toothpaste

You can find out more about the individual whiten teeth methods here.

Whiten teeth with gel

One of the most effective ways to whiten teeth at home is with whitening gel. This is usually available as a complete teeth whitening set. It includes prefabricated aligners that are filled with gel and placed on the teeth.

The advantage: You adapt the aligners to your teeth at home, so that they are ideally enclosed during bleaching. As a result, the gel gets into the visually visible interdental spaces as well as possible and can whiten the teeth well.

Many bleaching sets also contain an LED light, which additionally supports the whitening effect. Overall, this method comes closest to professional whitening at the dentist.

However, correct use and strict adherence to the instructions for use are very important. Otherwise there is a risk of irritated gums or at least a very unsatisfactory result. To get the maximum amount of lightening, you should use the gel daily. The application periods vary between a week and a month.

Whitening Strips

You can whiten your teeth even more easily than with gel if you use whitening strips. Above all, the easy and quick usability makes this method so popular.

This is how it works: Simply stick the whitening strips onto your teeth. If possible, the gums should not be touched. Remove the strips after the prescribed exposure time and brush your teeth thoroughly.

After about 14 days, the strips have developed their full effect and nothing stands in the way of your Hollywood smile.

Disadvantage: In most cases, the whitening strips do not fit over all teeth at the same time. In addition, the interdental spaces are often not whitened with this method.

Inexpensive and easy: Teeth Whitening Pens

Probably the cheapest and fastest method in terms of teeth whitening is a teeh whitening pen. To do this, simply apply the whitening gel to your teeth with a brush, let it take effect and then clean your teeth. You can also leave some products on overnight.

Disadvantage: Lips and saliva wear off the gel relatively quickly, which means that it cannot act for a long time. Accordingly, this method must be used more frequently in order to achieve the desired result.

Whiten teeth with toothpaste

Do you want white teeth, but you have neither time nor desire to deal with complex bleaching methods? Then whitening toothpaste might be right for you. The application is in no way different from regular tooth brushing – regardless of whether you work with a conventional or an electric toothbrush – and is very inexpensive.

Disadvantage: The teeth are only cleaned superficially, which is why the result is nowhere near as intense as with other bleaching methods. In addition, frequent use of whitening toothpaste leads to the abrasion of tooth enamel, which should be avoided at all costs.

Activated Charcoal

Activated charcoal has been a real hype for years when it comes to whitening teeth at home. While the followers of this method are enthusiastic about the effect, dentists see its use very critically. The black powder acts like sandpaper. This removes the enamel and roughen the teeth. The result: First of all, the teeth actually become lighter. Over time, however, they discolour much more quickly because the attacked structure literally soaks up dyes.

Whiten teeth at home: What you need to consider

• Whitening cannot whiten your teeth permanently. This also applies to a professional whitening performed by a dentist. The effect slowly wears off after a few months, although professional bleaching is usually much more sustainable.
• You should make an appointment with your dentist before every whitening and get the go for teeth whitening. This will prevent the bleaching from worsening gum problems, exposed tooth necks or even tooth decay. Leaky fillings would also be fatal if you want to whiten your teeth, because the penetration of peroxide into the tooth can lead to very painful hypersensitivity.
• Dentures and fillings cannot be whitened with commercially available whitening methods. Only a dentist has the professional equipment to achieve a consistent result in these cases. In addition, the dentist has bleaching agents that have a peroxide value of 30 percent. In the free trade, however, only 10 percent peroxide is contained. Accordingly, the result of professional bleaching is much more intense.

• You will achieve the best result if you refrain from nicotine, coffee, red wine and tea at least during the application period of the bleaching.
• A professional teeth cleaning is an absolute must before whitening your teeth. Otherwise the whitening cannot develop its full effect. The result can be blotchy and very unsightly.
• Prevention is better than aftercare. So that discoloration doesn’t stand a chance in the first place, you should avoid coffee, tea, red wine and cigarettes and take daily dental care seriously. Dental floss and an electric toothbrush ideally round off your care routine, declare war on deposits and thus ensure naturally whiter teeth.

Risks

Slight hypersensitivity after teeth whitening is quite normal and harmless. However, this should be overcome after 24 hours at the latest. However, if peroxide got into a diseased tooth, it can damage it permanently from the inside. You should avoid that in any case.

Not only teeth, but also gums are affected by bleaching. While this is carefully covered by the dentist during professional cleaning, this is hardly possible with over-the-counter whitening products. Even individually adapted aligners can slip and irritate the gums.

In order to minimize the risks of tooth whitening as far as possible, you should definitely speak to your dentist before the treatment and have yourself examined thoroughly. This is the only way you can rule out previously unnoticed diseases. In addition, the dentist can also determine whether your discoloration is superficial. Internal discoloration, on the other hand, can only be removed with professional teeth whitening.

How does teeth whitening process work?

The products used to whiten your teeth usually contain hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide. Applying it to the teeth releases oxygen in the mouth. Once it has penetrated the tooth enamel, the oxygen breaks down the pigments responsible for discoloration in the tooth and converts them into colorless molecules.