DIY Teeth Whitening Facts

Simply Smiles • January 17, 2022

If you are contemplating DIY teeth whitening, you may want to consult a professional first. Read DIY teeth whitening facts before you start.

Your smile can have a huge impact on your self-esteem. After all, if you do not feel comfortable showing your teeth and your smile then it quickly becomes difficult to express joy! Over time, this can really affect your confidence, especially when socializing or interacting with people at work.

This is why looking after your teeth is so important and teeth whitening can change how you feel about showing your smile off. Over time, your genetics, diet, lifestyle, and dental hygiene can have a big impact on the color of your teeth. This is why more than 40 million people in the United States use whitening products for their teeth on a regular basis.

But when it comes to choosing teeth whitening products and treatments, there are a lot of options out there. You could invest in a professional treatment or pick up a home DIY kit. Knowing which one is right for you can feel overwhelming and choosing the wrong one could damage your teeth.

So what really works and are there any risks to DIY teeth whitening? Read on now to find out the top advice for teeth whitening from a dentist in Ashburn, VA.

How Do DIY Teeth Whitening Kits Work?

You will probably be familiar with DIY teeth whitening kits. These are the ones that you'll find in your local pharmacy or grocery store. Often they involve using strips or paste regularly to whiten your teeth.

They work by targeting the stains on your teeth with small concentrations of bleach. This breaks up the stains that are responsible for yellow or brown coloring. Often they promise results in a matter of days or weeks provided that you use them on a regular basis.

One of the biggest attractions of these DIY home kits is the price. They cost much less than a professional whitening treatment, as do some alternative home remedies for teeth whitening. Let's take a closer look at some of these.

Alternative Remedies for Teeth Whitening

As with all areas of healthcare nowadays, there are plenty of alternative home remedies that you can find online. Often these have been around for a long time and pre-date the healthcare systems that we have today.

Some home remedies for keeping your teeth white include:

Rinsing your mouth out with oil (known as oil pulling)
Brushing using baking soda
Using certain fruits (such as strawberries and pineapples) to help whiten your teeth
Using activated charcoal and kaolin clay to remove stains from your teeth

While some of these methods are extremely popular, there is not a lot of scientific evidence to back up how successful they are. These remedies are unlikely to harm your teeth but they are also unlikely to significantly brighten the appearance of your smile.

Does DIY Whitening Work?

As we've already mentioned, whitening your teeth using a home kit or using home remedies will be a lot cheaper than a professional whitening treatment. However, there are good reasons for this.

First and foremost, home kits are much less effective than professional treatments. Often you have to use them over a prolonged period of time in order to make a noticeable difference to the color of your teeth. This is because they contain very low concentrations of bleach.

Their low bleach levels also mean that a DIY kit won't last for as long as a professional treatment. In order to keep your teeth looking white, you will need to use home kits much more regularly than professional treatments.

On top of this, there are some risks of using home kits for your long-term dental hygiene.

What Are the Risks of DIY Whitening Kits?

A lot of at-home kits are safe to use on a short-term basis and if you use them properly. However, leaving your kit on for too long or unsafe home kits can result in:

Increase gum sensitivity
Tooth pain
Worn down tooth enamel

This happens when the bleach in your whitening kit is too concentrated or is allowed to build for too long. In that case, the bleach will start to target your gums and the enamel on your teeth, rather than just the stains.

If you have an undiagnosed tooth cavity, using a home whitening kit on it will also be extremely painful. So it is a good idea to visit your dentist before you consider trying out a home whitening kit.

Getting Help From a Professional

If you want to whiten your teeth and look after your long-term oral health then it's important to get advice from an experienced dentist. They might offer you a whitening kit from their dental office, which is safer to use. Or they can talk you through teeth whitening treatment options.

These are more expensive but will deliver better quality results that last. Your dentist will also be able to help to find the exact shade of whiteness that you're looking for.

Before your treatment, your dentist will check that you don't have any underlying conditions that might affect the process. So you know you're in safe hands.

Whitening treatments themselves involve applying professional whitening gel onto your teeth. Your dentist then exposes this to a special light for around 15 minutes. During this time the gel targets any discolored molecules to remove stains.

You can repeat the process until you are happy with the shade of your teeth.

Speak to a Dentist in Ashburn, VA Today

As you can see, when it comes to teeth whitening there are plenty of much better options than the grocery store! These will ensure that your teeth whitening regime doesn't do lasting damage to your teeth.

If you are concerned about yellowing teeth or want help improving your smile, get in touch to speak to a dentist in Ashburn, VA today. We're here to help!

As you can see a smile not only makes you look more attractive but it also has several health benefits as well. A smile can go a long way in improving your overall health and your general well-being.

Once you take the time to consciously make an effort to smile more and do the things that make you smile, you will reap the smiling benefits discussed here.

It is often the simplest thing that can make the biggest difference. This is why you need to ensure that you take care of your smile. Ensure you are visiting your dentist at least once a year so that any problems with your smile can be identified and corrected.

If you would like dental help from, a dentist in Ashburn VA, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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