Teeth Whitening – Crown Point, IN
Professional Treatment to Brighten Your Smile
One of the first things other people notice about you is the quality of your grin, and if yours is full of stubborn stains, then you might be remembered for the wrong reasons. You might already have tried purchasing commercially available products, like whitening toothpaste or strips, only to realize you’re not seeing the changes you hoped for. Furthermore, many patients develop sensitivity from abrasive ingredients included in many over-the-counter options.
Fortunately, our team at Advanced Dental Concepts can provide a professional treatment to brighten your smile. Continue reading to learn more about teeth whitening, and feel free to contact us with any additional questions.
Who is a Good Candidate for Teeth Whitening?
Even those who diligently clean their teeth twice daily can suffer from dental staining. Over time, repeated exposure to darkly pigmented foods and drinks like berries, coffee, tea, or wine can leave them looking more yellow or brown than pearly white. Thankfully, professional whitening services can eliminate years’ worth of surface stains to give you the sparkling smile you deserve.
However, you must consult with one of our providers before you can proceed with treatment to ensure you’re a good candidate. Our team will examine your mouth for signs of issues that could interfere with your results, like cavities or gum disease, and work with you to address those first.
How Does Teeth Whitening Work?
During your consultation appointment, we’ll review the different ways to brighten your grin and determine the ideal shade you want to strive for. Then, based on our examination and your personal smile goals, we’ll recommend one of the following options to enhance your appearance:
In-Office Teeth Whitening
In a single hour-long appointment, we can potentially lift your smile by several hues. To do so, we carefully apply extra-strength bleaching gel formulated to minimize sensitivity. Then, we’ll use a special ultraviolet light to help speed up the whitening process. This is ideal if you have an upcoming event for which you want to look your best because you’ll leave our office with instant results.
Take-Home Teeth Whitening
If you’re short on time or get anxious about dental visits, we can also provide take-home kits that contain top-quality gels and custom-fitted trays for accurate applications and an optimal outcome. In as few as two weeks, you will see beautiful results without worrying about office visits, wait times, or sitting in the dentist’s chair.
Tips for Maintaining Your Brighter Smile
Most dental insurance policies don’t cover teeth whitening because it’s a cosmetic procedure intended to improve your appearance more than your oral health. Because enhancing your smile involves a personal investment, it’s only natural to want to do everything you can to maintain the results.
Below are a few helpful tips that can help you preserve your recently upgraded grin:
- Visit us for touch-ups. It can sometimes take multiple treatments to achieve the perfect shade, so feel free to follow up with us if you need a repeat occurrence.
- Watch what you eat. Avoid foods that stain, like darkly pigmented drinks or berries. Instead, enjoy dairy products like milk and yogurt, which can keep your teeth light and strengthen your enamel.
- Practice consistent oral hygiene. Your teeth can become discolored again, but regularly brushing and flossing them twice daily clears away surface stains on a regular basis.
- Switch toothpastes. Changing to a whitening toothpaste can help maintain the perfect tone.
- Schedule checkups. You should see us once every six months for a routine checkup and cleaning so we can polish your teeth to a shine.
Teeth Whitening FAQs
Does Teeth Whitening Hurt?
Teeth whitening treatments are tailored to fit the patient. Whether you’re receiving treatment in-office or from home, we’ll customize your experience to make sure the gel is applied properly to your teeth.
That is to say, we take great care to ensure your comfort, and most patients don’t find their treatment painful. However, if your teeth tend to be on the sensitive side or get sore easily, let us know so we can adjust your treatment!
Does Teeth Whitening Damage Enamel?
Professional teeth whitening generally doesn’t damage enamel. If you have an oral health condition like tooth decay or gum disease, then there can be complications – which is why we’re careful to check for signs of these conditions before proceeding with treatment.
What can damage your enamel are store-bought whitening products. Even home remedies like activated charcoal, baking soda, and plain hydrogen peroxide are abrasive enough to be harmful. If you’ve used these kinds of solutions before, let us know.
Is Teeth Whitening Permanent?
It would be great if teeth whitening was a permanent cosmetic solution, but unfortunately that’s not quite the case. Daily wear and tear catches up with all our smiles eventually! Still, with good care, you can extend the life of your whitening results from a few months to a few years. Less intensive touch-up treatments can also help you maintain a bright and beautiful smile.
We’re always happy to provide advice on dental care, so don’t hesitate to ask us if you’d like to know more about prolonging your teeth whitening results.
Is Teeth Whitening Safe?
As licensed professionals, our dental team takes every precaution to ensure the safety of you and your smile during teeth whitening. And it might also reassure you to know that professional teeth whitening treatments are approved by both the FDA and ADA! That means the agents we use have gone through rigorous testing, and our methods are regulated by safety standards.
Basically, yes – you can expect professionally administered teeth whitening treatments to be safe! Our custom trays are fitted to ensure the gel doesn’t touch your gums or gets accidentally ingested, and we know how to control the percentage of our agents to suit your smile.
How Can I Reduce the Cost of Teeth Whitening?
While teeth whitening is one of the less expensive dental cosmetics, we understand that the price tag can still be a challenge. To help make treatments like teeth whitening more affordable, we partner with CareCredit to offer flexible financing, have our own in-house savings plan, and even collect resources on how your taxes might reduce costs. Just let our friendly team know you’re looking for ways to save, and we’ll be happy to go over your options in more detail!