Of all of the elective treatments available to our patients, I am probably asked this question the most – “Do I need to whiten my teeth?”.
While my answer has always been, and continues to be, “nobody NEEDS to whiten their teeth, you should whiten them only if you want to”, I am beginning to rethink my answer.
Let me explain why. Teeth whitening is a very simple, relatively inexpensive and comfortable way to enhance your smile. It didn’t used to be that way. In the past, caustic, painful agents were used under heating lamps with results that were hit or miss, never mind the discomfort and damage to the gums.
Today, there are very effective whitening agents that cause very little sensitivity and they are applied or dispensed much more carefully under the watchful eye of the dentist. Tremendous amount of research has gone into creating whitening gels to increase their effectiveness and decrease their sensitivity.
One option is to have the whitening done in the office and be done in under two hours start to finish. Another option is to do take home whitening which involves custom trays made at the dentist office and depending on the type of gel used for whitening, you can sleep overnight for up to two weeks or wear the tray during the daytime anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Personally, I prefer the take home technique where the patient wears the gel filled tray all night while they are sleeping. I find the most consistent and greatest results with this method. Specialized custom trays need to be made and the technique for making them varies. I favor the technique developed by Dr. Rod Kurthy in California (you can see more about his company here ).
With such amazing results that can be achieved, and now we have ways for our patients to maintain their new white smile, as opposed to in the past where shortly after whitening the patient would revert back to their original color, why wouldn’t I recommend whitening for everybody?
The truth is, There are great quotes about the smile:
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” Joseph Addison
“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” Mother Teresa
There are many more like those quotes. The point is, the more a person smiles, the better they feel about themselves and the better a person feels about themselves, the more they smile. And the more a person smiles, the better others feel as well.
So I wouldn’t say that someone “needs” to whiten their teeth, but I certainly would recommend it if they ask. They are probably asking for a reason, and usually it is to feel better about themselves and that can have a wonderful positive cascading affect in this world.
Yours Flossfully,
David Schlussel, DDS
rechaviadental 