White , Off- white or yellow??

Who doesn't want whiter teeth??
I dont :P

Teeth become stained by a variety of reasons which include food habits, drugs, smoking, and age and certain diseases. We will have a detailed discussion of the reasons of discoloration later. For now, let us look at the various options available to whiten your teeth.

I have divided the options into D-I-Y --- The Do- It - Yourself kind And the Do it the Dentist way kind. :)

Here is what you can do --

• You can try out the various whitening toothpastes available. If they work for you , very good!!
• You can try your hand with the Paint - on gels and whitening strips. They are more successful than the toothpastes.
• You can go to a dentist :)

What the Dentist can do :

Scaling

Scaling is a procedure where the dentist scrapes off the superficial tartar and stains with an ultra sonic or a hand scaler. This procedure is usually sufficient to remove mild to moderate stains that are on the outside of the tooth.

Bleaching

Your dentist will use a chemical dental bleaching solution that is either applied in the clinic or packed into a tooth ( the ones that are root canal filled ).

Additionally heat, light or laser maybe used to increase the efficiency of the procedure.

Bleaching may be done in a single sitting or several depending on the stains you have.
Bleaching offers the best results , second only to veneers.

Veneering

Veneering is where the dentist prepares the external surface of the tooth. Very little tooth material is removed and over this a thin porcelain is cemented with a dental cement. This porcelain will obviously be pearly white and dazzling.

These are the options available for whitening your teeth. You must also be ready to quit smoking and cut down on your coffee and tea to prevent further staining. Iam sure a lot of questions are unanswered. Shoot them off to me at dr.vidhyavenkat@gmail.com and expect a prompt reply.

Cheers!! And Keep Smiling .. Healthy!!