Tag Archives: Crest Whitestrips

Zoom Whitening

Lemons for Teeth Whitening

I want to whiten my teeth but I don’t want to wear those trays. I was thinking of using lemon to whiten my teeth. I’ve heard that is a good way to remove stains. Is there a special procedure to do this?

Helen

Dear Helen,

lemons

There are countless articles online about ways you can DIY your teeth whitening. I don’t know any of them that are safe. If you are looking for something that you can do over-the-counter, like a whitening kit, I would recommend Crest Whitestrips.

While it does work, it is much weaker than anything you would get from your dentist. However, this is even messier than trays because there is nothing to contain the gel and the strips will slip and slide.

I do not recommend using lemons to whiten your teeth. The main reason for that is because lemon is a citrus fruit. That means it contains citric acid. If you use something containing citric acid on your teeth, it causes damage to the enamel. At first they may look a little whiter because the acid will etch away those stains, but that etching will also take away the protection for your teeth, which means that the teeth will end up looking darker.

Years ago, there was actually an at-home kit that used citrus to whiten teeth. It would start with a slurry to put on the teeth, which did make the teeth look whiter. Soon, however, the patients found their teeth ended up darker. This didn’t last on the market long.

If you are drinking either a citrus drink or a soda (which also contains citric acid), it is important that you rinse out your mouth before brushing your teeth. Otherwise you end up grinding the acid into your enamel.

If you do not want to do at-home whitening with trays, there is an option to get your teeth whitened faster. In fact, you can whiten your teeth in just one appointment with Zoom Whitening. Not all dentists do this procedure, but I feel confident you won’t have trouble finding one.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentist Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.
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Teeth Whitening

Bleaching Non-Veneered Teeth

I have porcelain veneers. They still look fine, but the natural teeth they have are beginning to stain again. I drink a lot of coffee so that is probably why. I want to bleach my teeth using Crest Whitestrips, but want to make sure they won’t damage my porcelain veneers first.

Brenda

Dear Brenda,

Tooth Bleaching Trays

Crest Whitestrips will whiten your teeth slowly without damaging your porcelain veneers, but it will be a bit of a hassle. It will only cover six of your teeth tops and I am guessing that four of those are veneered. In order to get any of your natural teeth covered, you will either have to cut the strip in half, which will be messy or use two of them, one on each side of your veneers. That is double the strips. If you consider that the strength is only a fraction of what you would get with your dentist than you can see you will need to purchase many kits to get the results you will likely want to see.

My suggestion is that you see your dentist and ask him to make you some teeth whitening trays. He can even have them cut around your veneers if you don’t want the whitening gel to have access to them. You will find your teeth will whiten much faster and you will be safer under the care of a professional.

One word about the picking up of stains from your coffee. I am going to suggest that you purchase a product called Supersmile Toothpaste. This is specifically designed to care for cosmetic dental work, such as porcelain veneers, all while safely removing stains from your teeth.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentists Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.

Teeth Whitening

Will Crest Whitestrips Damage a Tooth?

I have a damaged incisor that has always been a bit darker than the other teeth. It has started to embarrass me now that I am older. I wanted to whiten it, so my dentist suggested I try Crest Whitestrips. I bought their strongest. After a week, that tooth started to hurt, so I stopped using them. However, the tooth doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It is sensitive to both cold and heat. Do you think it needs a root canal treatment? Is it normal for teeth whitening to do that?

Livvie

Dear Livvie,

Woman covering her mouth with hand. Seeing something shocking surprised and speechless face expression.

In general, using Crest Whitestrips are safe. That is mostly true because they are not very strong. For safety reasons, the over-the-counter brands are weaker than what you would get if you were doing teeth whitening with a dentist. I’ve only heard of one other time someone needed a root canal treatment after using Crest Whitestrips and the situation is eerily similar to yours.

My recommendation would be to have your dentist do a cold test on your teeth. That will help him know if the tooth needs further treatment.

The Right Fix for a Dark Tooth

One further thing here. Crest White strips (or any teeth whitening) was the wrong treatment for this. When your teeth are whitened, they whiten uniformly. That means the dark tooth would still be darker than the other teeth.

A better treatment for this would have been either dental bonding or even a porcelain veneer. Either way, don’t allow your current dentist to do the treatment.

Teeth whitening is one of the easiest cosmetic procedures available. Every dentist should be able to do it properly. It seems, however, that your dentist doesn’t understand even that. Dental bonding and veneers are much more advanced. When you are ready to get this tooth fixed, you will want to seek an expert cosmetic dentist.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentists Drs. Thimmesch and Foreman.

Teeth Whitening

Bleaching Your Teeth With Clorox

I have some household bleach and wondered if that would work for whitening my teeth.

Danny

Dear Danny,

Tooth Bleaching Trays

While it is very possible it will whiten your teeth, I’m going to steer you a different direction. Bleach is a base. You may be familiar with another base–lye, which is extremely corrosive. Bleach is corrosive to organic tissue in a similar way. In fact, many dentists use it in a root canal treatment to dissolve the dead organic tissue left in the tooth.

I’m afraid if you used the bleach from your home, it will damage the tissue inside your mouth. This will cause you a significant amount of unnecessary problems.

The Safest Way to Whiten Your Teeth

If you truly want to whiten your teeth, there are a few ways to safely go about it.

First, you could use over the counter Crest Whitestrips. These will whiten your teeth, albeit much more slowly than professional whitening, so you will have to use quite a few kits. They also have the limitation of only affecting the front six teeth unless you wear more than one strip on each arch.

Second, you can do at home professional teeth whitening. This method uses bleaching trays like the ones pictured above. These are custom-fitted to your teeth and your dentist provides you with a strong bleaching gel to wear in them.

Finally, if you are in a hurry, you can do in-office Zoom Whitening. This will whiten your teeth in just one appointment.

Any one of those are safer options than using household bleach.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentists Dr. Thimmesch and Foreman.