Teeth Whitening with Take Home Trays
What is Tooth Whitening?
Teeth whitening means brightening of the color of your teeth through the use of a peroxide-based gel that is applied to the front surfaces of the teeth for a specified amount of time. This treatment is useful in removing external discolouration (from foods like red wine and coffee; or smoking) and internal discolouration (naturally darker teeth or caused by trauma or older fillings).
Do any of the drug store products work?
While there are many products available for whitening over-the-counter including toothpaste, mouthwash and whitening strips, the products will contain very low concentrations of the active ingredient and may only help whiten your teeth mildly.
What are take home trays?
With take-home treatment at our North Delta/Surrey dental clinic, impressions (moulds) are taken of your teeth and custom trays are made for you to wear with the tooth whitening gel every evening for a couple of weeks. The benefit of take home trays is that whitening ‘touch-ups’ are easy to do when the teeth start to darken with time.
Are there other treatment considerations?
The tooth whitening agent can cause increased tooth sensitivity temporarily (especially in younger patients). If you have any oral infections or gum disease you should talk to Dr. Tham before using a tooth whitener.
Tooth whitening will only whiten natural tooth enamel, and not dental restorations like crowns, veneers, or fillings. After tooth whitening, you may consider replacing some of the older restorations that will now appear ‘darker’.
To see if tooth whitening is an option for you, contact a member of our North Delta Dental team at: