Here at Dental Health and
Aesthetics, Leigh-on-Sea, we pride ourselves in providing the best and safest teeth whitening results possible.
But wait. “It’s much cheaper down the road at that beauty salon!” you say? Eeeeeek.
It just seems like a constant battle right now for dental and aesthetics professionals.
We are battling cheap facial filler, cheap Botox and now cheap teeth whitening.
But what is teeth whitening?
So, why do I recommend seeing a dental professional for your teeth whitening, rather than a Highstreet cheap alternative?
Well, there are several reasons really:
- Safety
- A lot of the cheaper Highstreet options can be dangerous for your teeth and gums
- Permanent damage to your teeth and gums
- Irritating fillings
- Poor long term results
- Without an assessment, you could be causing issues to teeth that may have undiagnosed early caries or decay
- Damaging old fillings
- Aesthetics – getting the best natural result
- They can cause long term sensitivity
Why cant I use the cheaper alternatives online? Like whitening pens, strips or even purchase my own whitening trays?
Products available on the high street and online do not (shouldn’t legally) contain enough of the active ingredient, Hydrogen Peroxide or Carbamide Peroxide to have any real effect on the tooth colour. The reason being, it is a prescription only medicine, so you must see a dental care professional in order to be able to be prescribed an affective whitening gel. Not only that, we can then determine how
suitable you are for whitening, whilst ensuring the safety elements of the procedure which will of course mean better long term results.
Whitening Strips and pens are a good short term option but not great long term. Whitening pens are usually for individual tooth whitening, however they are not great for the gums if over applied, plus our saliva washes the solution away so results tend to be poor. Whitening strips are unable to cover the whole toot surface so results are not consistent, especially in between the teeth and again, are poor long term.
Whitening trays are what we use here at Dental Health and Aesthetics, but if they are not bespoke and purchased online, then they can cause a number of issues:
- They don’t hold the whitening gel in place so are not effectively whitening the whole tooth, if at all
- Gels leak out onto gums causing soreness
- Gels leak and are swallowed causing sore throats
- Uncomfortable so cant be worn at night, which is not good for night time gels which require 4-6 hours wear
- Loose fit means saliva weakens the gel making them less effective
- Poor fitting trays can irritate the gums