Teeth Whitening – Greenbelt, MD
Brighter, More Beautiful Smiles
Professional teeth whitening is one of the more popular cosmetic dentistry service we provide at McCarl Dental Group. This is no surprise since foods and drinks consumed on a daily basis can quickly discolor naturally healthy, beautiful smiles despite our best oral hygiene efforts. At McCarl Dental Group, we can help you recreate a brilliant white smile with a custom, take-home professional teeth whitening kit. If you’re interested in learning more, call our dental office in Greenbelt or Millersville, Maryland to schedule a cosmetic dentistry consultation with one of our caring dentists.
Why do Teeth Stain?
There are many reasons why teeth become stained, and in order to recommend the right cosmetic dentistry solution to brighten your smile, we want to determine the cause. Some of the common causes of dental discoloration include the following:
- Consumption of staining foods and drinks (if it will stain a white shirt it will stain your teeth)
- Use of tobacco
- Poor dental hygiene
- Specific medications taken during dental development
- Inadequate or excessive fluoride consumption during dental development
- Dental wear revealing yellow dentin tooth layer
- Genetic predisposition
Types of Tooth Stains
Teeth are made up of three layers: the hard, outer surface enamel, the supportive layer called dentin, and the soft interior dental pulp that houses the tooth’s nerve system. The tooth enamel absorbs pigment from foods, beverages, and tobacco that can stain teeth, leading to discolored smiles. Stains that affect just the outer enamel layer of teeth are easily removed through professional teeth whitening. When tooth staining saturates deeper into the tooth structure or dental wear reveals the yellow dentin layers of teeth, we may need to discuss alternative cosmetic dentistry solutions like porcelain veneers or dental bonding.
What is Teeth Whitening
If you’re in our dental office for teeth whitening, chances are you tried one or more over the counter products first without seeing the results you wanted. These store bought teeth whitening strips, gels, pastes, and rinses use peroxide to lift stains from teeth. Unfortunately, they have to use very low levels of this active whitening agent, and their application methods don’t prevent saliva from neutralizing the peroxide. This means you’re less likely to see any change in the shade of your smile. Professional teeth whitening treatments use the same active ingredient, but we’re able to use prescription strength doses and effective application methods to ensure the desired results are achieved. We offer custom home professional teeth whitening options.
Take-Home Teeth Whitening
We recommend professional home teeth whitening. This way you can discover if you have sensitivity to whitening products. We can change the whitening solution to suit your needs. We will create a specially fitted application tray that you’ll use in combination with prescription-strength dose of our active teeth whitening agent. You’ll simply need to apply the whitening gel to teeth once a day for ten to fourteen days or until you are happy with the shade of your teeth. Some patients have great results with 3-4 applications of teeth whitening. At home whitening achieves the same flawless results possible with in-office teeth whitening with less tooth sensitivity.
How Long do they Results Typically last?
Everyone is different, but after teeth whitening, you should maintain your brighter smile for several months to a full year. We will usually recommend touching up your results once or twice a year with a custom at-home teeth whitening kit. You can extend the results of your teeth whitening treatment by taking the following steps:
- Reduce or limit consumption of staining foods and beverages
- Stop smoking and using other tobacco products
- Maintain thorough at-home hygiene with daily flossing and twice a day brushing
- Visit us twice a year for professional teeth cleanings
Understanding the Cost of Teeth Whitening
The cost of teeth whitening is dependent on various factors that will be determined during your initial consultation with our team. When meeting with a member of McCarl Dental Group, we will go over your goals and concerns as well as formulate an idea as to how much you can expect to pay for your upcoming treatment. We’ll then work with you to discuss your financial options so that you can avoid high out-of-pocket expenses.
Teeth Whitening FAQs
Pursuing a brighter smile with professional teeth whitening is a worthwhile investment of your time and money, but we at McCarl Dental Group understand you probably have many questions. This is why we’ve made it easy for our patients to review frequently asked questions about teeth whitening below. Offering clear, detailed answers, we hope to provide deeper insight should you be thinking about choosing us to achieve your smile dreams. If you don’t see your question listed below, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our office.