Some people are lucky enough to be naturally blessed with sparkling white teeth. Others have much darker teeth or teeth that have yellowed with age. These days many people find this unacceptable and prefer to greet the world with a youthful and pleasing smile. Bleaching the teeth is a safe treatment that has been used and licensed since 1952 in America. Varying different sorts of peroxides are used in different concentrations to suit the particular patient's mouth.
In office bleaching:-this technique, which uses very strong bleaches placed by a trained operator directly on the teeth and activated by a special light, peaked in popularity a few years ago . Many operators found that the immediate benefit soon faded.
Home bleaching:-at the Mornington Peninsula Dental Clinic we currently recommend home bleaching as this is much longer lasting and, as all bleaching techniques need regular maintenance for life, the cost is effectively less because the patient already has the bleaching armamentarium. In this technique impressions are taken of your teeth and custom built bleaching trays (very thin) are made solely for your mouth. After the operator has ensured that your trays are a good fit you will be sent home with the bleaching materials to use the comfort of your own home or workplace and at the convenience of your own timing. Bleaching will take between two and three weeks and it is necessary to top up approximately 4 times a year from then on.
It is not unusual to suffer some sensitivity during the bleaching process which will resolve after the treatment has finished.