April 08, 2019 / by Emma Jones

There are a lot of things that can deprive you of the whiteness of your smile – smoking, drinking coffee, tea, wine and even eating some types of foods. However, we all want to do whatever necessary to restore or improve the whiteness of our teeth and that’s why teeth whitening has always been so popular. It is such a widely accepted method that there are countless types of kits with different products that promise to help you whiten your smile without having to go to the dentist. All quick fixes aside, according to the specialists in this field, teeth whitening is a procedure that should be done under the supervision of a professional. If you were on the fence whether you should do it yourself or go to a cosmetic dentists Melbourne based, perhaps the following facts will help you understand why the latter is always the better option.

First and foremost, prior to any action, a dentist will first check and evaluate your teeth and your overall mouth health in order to determine whether the process of whitening is suitable for you. You may be advised to give up on this procedure if you aren’t a suitable candidate due to poor gums or previous serious dental issues. Also, if you teeth are yellow, they might be able to get whiter a little more effectively than if they’re greyish or brownish, so a dentist will know what to do to accommodate the needs of each individual patient. If you have crowns or cups, bleaching can cause discoloration on your smile known as the rainbow effect since those teeth cannot be whitened like the rest of them. In that case, your dentist will probably suggest some other methods.

Another main difference between doing it all by yourself and having in done in a cosmetic dentists Melbourne based clinic is that the professional will make a mould of your teeth and use that to make a whitening tray that is adapted properly. This is done as to ensure that the treatment touches only your teeth and not your gums. What can happen if your gum tissue comes into contact with the solution is irritation which can even cause the gum tissue to recede.

The active ingredient in most products for teeth whitening that does the magic is hydrogen peroxide. Different bleaching products have different percentage of hydrogen peroxide but only dentists are able to use high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. Only at a higher concentration can hydrogen peroxide effectively penetrate deep into the enamel structure as opposed to working only on the surface of the tooth enamel.

Visiting a dentist to do the procedure is also a lot safer option because if anything goes wrong, you can always rely on someone knowledgeable for help. The most common side effect is teeth sensitivity, especially with hot and cold. This may worry you more than it should if you are doing it all alone, but your dentist can help you with ways to soothe the sensitivity and they’ll surely want you to go for a checkup which is a measurement in and of itself.