While the holidays bring a lot of joy, they can also bring a lot of staining to your teeth. This can damage your confidence in your smile, so you don’t express the happiness you feel within.
If you want whiter teeth this year, consider giving yourself the gift of professional whitening. You can expect amazing results in less time than you think.
Here’s why you should skip the over-the-counter products and head straight to your McAllen dentist.
What Are the Differences Between Over-the-Counter Products and Professional Whitening?
If you walk into the dental care aisle of your local pharmacy, you’ll see plenty of over-the-counter (OTC) options for whitening your teeth. While they can be cost-effective, they aren’t able to provide the same type of results as a professional teeth whitening session.
Options like whitening toothpaste just help prevent stains and polish your teeth. Strips, trays, and gels will typically require multiple treatments over days or weeks to see full results. Results from over-the-counter products also tend not to last long before your teeth are back to where they previously were.
You may also feel more pain since the peroxide in the treatments can irritate your gums and other soft tissues. Even the weaker concentrations used in at-home products can cause damage to dental work if not properly used.
On the other hand, professional whitening offers faster results with fewer issues of irritation or damage. Since you will be monitored by your dentist, you can expect better results. This is particularly true if you have darker stains.
Another benefit of visiting your dentist for teeth whitening is that your results will also last longer even without additional treatments.
How Effective Is Professional Whitening?
Most people feel that having a bright white smile is important to their social and professional lives. Professional whitening at your McAllen dental office is much more effective than OTC products since the process is monitored by a dentist and the peroxide used is at a higher concentration.
Most patients will see a difference of at least 2-5 shades after just one 30-90 minute session.
Following the treatment, you’ll need to follow your dentist’s recommendations to prevent staining again. You will naturally see a slight darkening as your teeth recover from the treatment. If you are a smoker or consume a lot of staining foods you may see your results fade in as little as 4-6 weeks.
However, if you follow whitening tips as you should, then this will help maintain your results for as long as 6-12 months.
How Will Professional Whitening Affect My Teeth?
One of the best parts of professional whitening is that your treatment is monitored by your McAllen dentist; you’ll receive an exam to make sure your teeth and gums are healthy enough for whitening.
Your dentist will typically protect your gums from the gel with a film or rubber sheet, which is important if you have receding or otherwise sensitive gums.
If you have dental work like bridges or crowns, your dentist will either try to match the color of your current dental work or polish what you have to lighten it.
It should be noted that whitening gels can damage the materials used in fillings and crowns, which means you may end up needing replacements much sooner than you would without whitening treatments.
Your dentist can help prevent this by using the shortest treatment possible.
Visit Heroes Dental for the Gift of a Whiter Smile
If you’re ready to try professional whitening, Heroes Dental is here for you! We don’t just do general dentistry, we also offer plenty of cosmetic dentistry options to give you the smile of your dreams.
Make an appointment today to discuss your options with our experienced McAllen dentists.