Why Professional Teeth Whitening Is the Best Way to Whiten Your Teeth

A beautiful white smile can light up a room and speak volumes about how you feel about yourself. When you don’t feel confident about the brightness of your teeth, it interferes with all areas of your life.

Everyone wants a dazzling smile, and thankfully, there are many ways to whiten teeth, or more correctly, lighten teeth—while you want a smile that is bright and natural-looking, you don’t want it to be over-whitened.

While the choices may seem confusing, it may help to know that when it comes to professional teeth whitening (a.k.a. teeth bleaching), there are essentially only two options from which to choose, both available from renowned prosthodontist Dr. Gerald Marlin:

• Professional, chair-side teeth whitening delivers ideal results in just one or two visits with Dr. Marlin to control the whitening process.
• Take-home teeth whitening kits offer the convenience of whitening on your schedule in the comfort of your own home, with visits to Dr. Marlin for his evaluation and input.

For each of these, Dr. Marlin will evaluate the condition and color of your teeth and decide the best course of treatment most appropriate for you.

Please note that we highly recommend against using commercially sold whitening strips as they will whiten the lighter teeth first and people are usually tempted to continue whitening all the teeth until the darker ones become lighter. As a result, the teeth frequently become over whitened and opaque. Once the translucency has been lost to excessive whitening, it cannot be recovered.

To help you decide how you should move forward with your treatment, be sure to review the information below to learn all about the benefits of having your teeth professionally whitened.

What Causes Teeth Discoloration?

If you’ve tried to get your teeth acceptably white through home remedies but failed, you may first need a deeper, more professional cleaning and polishing.

Several factors cause your teeth to become discolored, with two different discoloration categories typically being highlighted:

Extrinsic Discoloration

Extrinsic discoloration affects the exterior surfaces of your teeth. Smoking and drinking your favorite beverages like red wine, tea, or coffee can all contribute to the yellowing of your teeth. And to make it worse, smoking can be responsible for your teeth becoming even more stained with a brownish color. Furthermore, too much fluoride as a child with developing teeth can also lead to tooth discoloration.

Since extrinsic stains affect the exterior of your teeth, they can be treated relatively easily.

Intrinsic Discoloration

Intrinsic discoloration occurs from the inside of the tooth, with this type of discoloration being created by infection, tetracycline’s effect on dentine developing during childhood, other medications’ similar effect, aging, childhood illness, genetics, or tooth trauma. However, long-term drinking discoloring beverages and/or smoking can also adversely affect intrinsic coloration.

Teeth Whitening Is an Art at Elite Prosthetic Dentistry

Most frequently, different teeth are darker than adjacent ones in either jaw. As a result, we treat teeth whitening as an “art” by selectively whitening the darker ones first, which prevents the over whitening problem noted above.  If any of these issues have caused your tooth discoloration, professional teeth whitening is the only way to truly brighten your teeth, and it’s time to make sure you know the facts about the process and what to expect when you take your next step.

Not only will Dr. Marlin make sure you’re a candidate for teeth whitening, but he will help you choose the best whitening method for your unique situation.

Learn More About Your Teeth Whitening in Washington, D.C.

Interested in learning more? Be sure to check out our other blog topics on teeth whitening:

• Myths About Teeth Whitening
• Teeth Bleaching vs. Teeth Whitening

If you would like to be like our many patients who achieve a “Simply Radiant, Simply Natural” smile, call Elite Prosthetic Dentistry today at 202-244-2101 or schedule an appointment online. We proudly serve Washington DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Arlington, and nearby areas of Maryland and Virginia. Being near the Friendship Heights Metro Station makes our office easy for downtown-area patients who would like to visit us before or after work. We look forward to hearing from you soon!