Local Dental Care - Bright Smiles

Yellow Teeth Embarrassing You? Not After Tooth Whitening!

I don't know what your favorite color is, but when it comes to your teeth, I bet it's not yellow!

Yellow teeth can be caused by many things, but cigarettes and coffee are the top offenders. Just as a cigarette filter picks up a yellow stain, so do smokers' teeth. Coffee can stain your shirt - and your teeth. So can tea and cola.

In fact, almost anything that can stain fabric or dishes can stain teeth too. Any highly-pigmented food or beverage can leave its mark on your pearly whites. (Something to think about the next time you order curry!)

But there's good news if you want to brighten your smile! Tooth whitening actually works best on yellow teeth. While grey or bluish discolorations can be very difficult to remove, most yellow stains disappear quickly with teeth bleaching treatment.

After teeth whitening, you'll want to try to maintain that brilliant white smile by minimizing your exposure to stains. You can still enjoy coffee or tea, but it's better if you drink them relatively quickly and rinse afterwards; sipping coffee slowly throughout the day will add more stains to your teeth.

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.

Carbamide Peroxide for Teeth Whitening

Teeth bleaching is a way of chemically lightening the color of your teeth. The most common tooth bleaching agent used to whiten teeth is peroxide. Yes, that's the same thing "bottle blondes" use to bleach their hair! But peroxide comes in different chemical forms, and you can bet the kind you put on your teeth isn't quite the same as the kind you might use to lighten your hair.

Carbamide peroxide is the teeth whitening agent used in most commercial teeth whitener products. Laser teeth whitening at the dentist's office, on the other hand, uses the stronger teeth whitening agent, hydrogen peroxide. By law, dentists can use and prescribe more concentrated teeth bleaching agents than can be used in over-the-counter teeth whiteners.

While professional teeth whitening is the fastest route to white teeth, it's also more expensive than using the carbamide peroxide whiteners that are available at grocery stores and pharmacies. Since these products have lower levels of peroxide in them, it takes longer to bleach teeth effectively. However, carbamide peroxide is safer for you to use at home. It's just not safe to use a stronger bleaching agent without a dentist's supervision; you could inadvertently damage your teeth or gums.

Lots of tooth whiteners contain carbamide peroxide. Whitening toothpaste and whitening strips are some of the most popular options, but they're not the only ones. You can get a bleaching paste that you wear in bleaching trays over your teeth. You can get bleaching gel that you paint onto your teeth. Or you can go to your dentist for instant whitening -- it all depends on how fast you want a new bright smile!

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.