Bleaching

Alright let's start this off with the question that I get asked the most- Will bleaching hurt my teeth? The answer is NO. Bleaching is basically an optical illusion. A persons teeth are a lot like Swiss cheese,stay with me here, the tooth has lots of microscopic pores these pores are filled with a jelly.  The tooth(Cheese) is pretty much impervious to stain, the jelly is what gets stained so the whole tooth looks darker.  Things with vibrant colors tend to stain more coffee, tea,red wine, etc. When you bleach you place a gel (carbamide peroxide)on the tooth.  This gel breaks down into air and water.  The microscopic bubbles of air cause the jelly in the tooth to break apart and voila' more light passes through and your teeth are magically whiter. So is it safe- yep it actually doesn't do anything to the teeth.  The process has been around for a long time (it was used by dentists to stop bleeding after gum surgery) and O.K.ed by the FDA in 1989.  Here are the down sides:  it is not permanent so you have to keep doing it, it can cause cold sensitivity using sensitivity toothpaste can really help, and lastly there is no easy way out whitening toothpastes and rinses don't work. Period. So whether you do it at home, in a dental office, or with something like crest strips they all function the same.  The other thing is dental work is not affected by bleaching so if you have white fillings or crowns in the front teeth the dental work won't get lighter.  So if you bleach you will need them replaced.  On the flip side if you need something done on your front teeth bleach first then have the color matched to the bleached teeth.