Little White Lie #1
The Lie: The best way to get whiter teeth is to use whitening toothpastes.
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: Having your dentist whiten your teeth is the best way to get a brighter, whiter smile.
The Truth: Yes, it is true that your dentist can help you to get whiter teeth. However, you don’t have to go to your dentist to get the same effect. The whitening agent which your dentist uses is almost invariably either Carbamide Peroxide or Hydrogen Peroxide: the same whitening agents used in do-it-yourself tooth whitening systems.
The degree to which any tooth whitening procedure is effective is dependent on how concentrated the whitening gel is and the amount of time that the gel spends in contact with the surface of the teeth.
The same results that you could get from a whitening procedure performed by your dentist can be gotten with an at home tooth whitening system as well. It’s simply a question of using a highly concentrated whitener for a short duration versus a less concentrated whitener for a longer time.
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 whiteners produce the same results.
The Truth: There is a lot of difference between tooth whitening solutions. Some products are very effective and others are nearly worthless.
Where these products differ is in the whitening agents which are used. Different products may use one or the other of the two most common whitening agents – but the real difference is in the concentration of these agents, which is what really separates an effective product from one which doesn’t get results. Before you choose an at home whitening product, you should examine the available alternatives, keeping in mind what type of staining you’re seeking to reverse and how severe this staining is.
Little White Lie #4
The Lie: Tooth whitening is harmful to the teeth and gums.
The Truth: Teeth whitening systems don’t cause any damage to your teeth or gums. You apply the whitening agent to your teeth and the organic deposits which cause staining or discoloration on the surface of the teeth are removed through oxidation. This process is not harmful to your teeth or gums. However, it is possible that the procedure can cause some very short-lived sensitivity in the teeth. If this is a problem, the effect can be reduced or eliminated simply by shortening the time that the whitening gel spends in contact with 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, most effective method, of whitening the teeth
The Truth: Whitening strips are not only not the best way to whiten your teeth, but they’re not even particularly effective. Whitening strips don’t work terribly well because they’re designed as a “one size fits all” solution. Unfortunately, everyone’s teeth are different and whitening strips don’t provide a perfect fit. This means that any depressions or grooves in your teeth aren’t whitened, nor are any spaces between your teeth. The end result is an uneven whitening with ugly “striping” of stained areas which often looks worse than before you started to use the whitening strips!
Little White Lie #6
The Lie: Thermoform trays are cheaper and work just as well as custom whitening tray.
The Truth: This is just simply not true. Thermoform trays have the same problem as do whitening strips; they don’t take into account the fact that everyone’s teeth are different. After all, you wouldn’t expect someone else’s dentures to fit. Custom whitening trays are designed to perfectly conform to your teeth and as such, they don’t leave behind unwhitened areas like a thermoform tray will, since they stay in contact with your teeth. Custom trays also have the advantage of reducing the possibility of gum irritation, since little to no whitening gel can escape from the tray during the whitening process.
Little White Lie #7
The Lie: Paint on style tooth whiteners are the best way to go since they’re the easiest kind to use.
The Truth: The paint-on whiteners are definitely easy to use, but unfortunately they’re not effective. They have the same fatal flaw as whitening toothpastes. Your saliva washes away the whitening agents, meaning that the whiteners aren’t left in contact with the surface of your teeth for a long enough time to do much, if anything to whiten them. The whitening agents in these products is also present in a very low concentration so as to prevent irritation – so even if they did spend more time in contact with your teeth, they are of very little use. At best, these paint on tooth whitening products leave you with very limited whitening results and have an uneven, unnatural look.
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: Those “high tech” electroluminescence tooth whitening systems are more effective than at home teeth whitening systems which use only whitening gel.
The Truth: As it happens, these products are neither new and high tech nor are they effective. Electroluminescence may look impressive, but it’s the same technology used in many children’s toys and to provide back lighting for cell phones. The electroluminescence definitely looks cool, but does nothing to make the whitening agents work better – it is a marketing ploy and nothing but.
Little White Lie #9
The Lie: Tooth bleaching procedures provide everyone with the same results
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: If you swallow tooth whitening gel it can result in internal injuries.
The Truth: There is about a 100% chance that you’ll swallow at least a little bit of tooth whitening gel regardless of which tooth whitening system you choose. It’s not harmful, though it does have an odd taste.
Before you buy any teeth whitening products online please view the rest of the teeth whitening lies at Teeth Whitening Little White Lies and also to download the information as a PDF file and read further important health and purchase information.Also see more information about the Smile Strips Online