Little White Lie #1
The Lie: Whitening toothpastes are highly effective at whitening your teeth.
The Truth: No one would argue that you shouldn't brush your teeth regularly and whitening toothpaste certainly couldn't hurt. Brushing your teeth is vital to the health of your teeth as well as being a basic tenet of good hygiene. However, the ingredients in whitening toothpastes just don't spend enough time in direct contact with your teeth to provide the kind of results that people tend to believe that they have.
Your saliva prevents the whitening agents in these toothpastes from being in contact long enough to do any real good in terms of tooth whitening. The active ingredients in these toothpastes are also usually present in such low concentrations that even if they did spend enough time in contact with your teeth, they still wouldn't be terribly effective. They're a great idea, but whitening toothpastes really don't do anything that regular toothpastes don't.
Little White Lie #2
The Lie: The best way to whiten your teeth is to have your dentist perform a whitening procedure.
The Truth: It's not really the case that any one method of teeth whitening is the "best" way. Your dentist can perform tooth whitening for you, but this doesn't mean that the results are going to be any better. The in-office teeth whitening procedures that your dentist can do for you use hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide; that is to say the exact same whitening agents that are used in do it yourself teeth whiteners.
How effective a tooth whitening system is depends on the concentration of the active ingredients in the gel and how long these whiteners are in direct contact with your teeth.
You can get the same results by using a whitening solution with a high concentration of peroxide for a short time (this is the general rule with a whitening procedure performed by a dentist) or using a whitening solution containing a lower concentration of peroxide for a longer time (the way that at home teeth whitening systems usually work).
Of course, there is one other thing to consider here: price. The cost of an office visit and whitening procedure performed by your dentist is far higher than the cost of a whitening treatment which you can administer yourself at home. The results are the same, but the price of doing it yourself is usually 25% or less than the cost of having your dentist perform the procedure. Knowing this, it should come as no surprise to you that more and more people are choosing home tooth whitening systems.
Little White Lie #3
The Lie: All tooth whitening products are the same.
The Truth: There is a lot of difference between tooth whitening solutions. Some products are very effective and others are nearly worthless.
The difference generally comes down to the ingredients used in the product. Different whitening gels differ in their concentration of active ingredients - and thus in the degree to which they are effective. Before making a purchase, you should look at the different products; some are made for specific types and levels of staining.
Little White Lie #4
The Lie: Tooth whitening is harmful to the teeth and gums.
The Truth: There is no risk of damage to your teeth or gums from using tooth whiteners. The whitening gel is applied directly to your teeth, where the whitening agents oxidize the organic deposits which cause staining. While it doesn't cause any damage to your teeth or gums, it is possible to have some sensitivity in your teeth following the procedure; however, this is only a temporary effect. You can reduce this sensitivity by reducing the amount of time that the whitening gel is in contact with the surface of your teeth.
Some whitening gels can also cause minor irritation to the gums - this usually happens because the whitening trays used in the procedure are poorly fitted. This is why using an at home tooth whitening system which uses custom-fitted whitening trays is always the best way to go.
Little White Lie #5
The Lie: Whitening strips are the best way to whiten your teeth.
The Truth: Our teeth are as unique as we are. This means that it's impossible to design a whitening strip which can actually maintain contact with the entire surface of our teeth. Even in a best case scenario, these strips can only help whiten the front surface of your teeth, with grooves in the teeth and the gaps between your teeth left unaffected by the whitening strip. What these strips cause is uneven tooth whitening, leaving a striped appearance, with stains apparent on the parts of the teeth which they don't cover. Many consider this to actually be worse than the original problem!
Little White Lie #6
The Lie: Thermoform trays are cheaper and work just as well as custom whitening tray.
The Truth: In reality, you do need a custom whitening tray to get the best results. You wouldn't assume that someone else's dentures would fit you properly, would you? A custom tray properly fits your teeth, unlike a whitening strip or a thermoform tray, which leaves unattractive stripes of staining and discoloration where they don't completely stay in contact with your teeth. A custom tray can also prevent gum irritation by keeping the whitening gel from leaking out of the tray - providing more efficient whitening and less potential for irritation.
Little White Lie #7
The Lie: Paint-on tooth whiteners are the best at home tooth whitening products since they're the easiest to use.
The Truth: If only it were so easy! These products sound like a good idea, but they have the same problem as whitening toothpastes - your saliva will tend to wash away the whitening agent. These products also usually contain very low concentrations of the active ingredient to prevent irritation to your gums and lips.
Other paint on tooth whiteners are basically whitewash for the teeth and do nothing to actually remove stains and discoloration.
Little White Lie #8
The Lie: Teeth whitening systems which use electroluminescence in conjunction with a whitening gel work better than systems which only use a gel because of the high-tech light technology activating the ingredients of the gel
The Truth: These products are nothing new; what they are is ineffective. The electroluminescence used in these products don't do anything except for look pretty. There is no added effect to these products by virtue of this light and it's not necessary to remove staining and get whiter teeth. This is a marketing ploy, plain and simple.
Little White Lie #9
The Lie: Tooth bleaching produces the same results for everybody.
The Truth: Everyone's teeth are different and so are the stains which they have. Some stains are more difficult to remove than others with bleaching. Yellowish stains are the easiest to bleach, with brownish stains being somewhat more difficult and grayish stains being more difficult still.
Little White Lie #10
The Lie: Swallowing tooth whitening solutions causes internal injury.
The Truth: There's no way to whiten your teeth without swallowing a little gel. No matter which whitening product you use, it's going to happen. The only side effect is the strange taste that these gels have; though there is no risk of injury from swallowing a little tooth whitening gel. Obviously, it's not recommended to drink the gel in large quantities, but swallowing the small amounts used in tooth whitening procedures isn't going to hurt anyone.
Before you purchase teeth whitening goods online please be sure to visit Best Teeth Whitening Products for the most up to date resources, health information, tips and prices.
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