Zoom Professional Teeth Whitening – Good and Bad

If you’re looking for professional teeth whitening, it’s likely that you’ve talked to a dentist or seen information on the new Zoom (the latest is “Zoom 2″) teeth whitening system.

The Zoom system is basically an in-office bleaching, but it is much faster and uses a whitening gel agent whose bleach is activated by a light.  The agent is much stronger than what you can buy off the shelf or even the normal tray whitening systems that are the usual teeth whitening setups used by people.  Because it’s stronger, the agent with Zoom often works faster and better.

The gel is applied directly to your teeth, avoiding your gums and sensitive spots.  A special frequency light is then shone on your teeth for a specific amount of time (just a few minutes), activating the gel and causing the bleaching action to begin.  This professional teeth whitening system often has fast results, with many teeth whitening clients having the Zoom treatment done over a lunch hour.

The treatment usually takes less than 45 minutes in total.

The biggest advantage to professional teeth whitening systems like Zoom is that it’s done in a dentist’s office where the application, use, and entire treatment can be controlled.  This means the right amount of bleach, the right length of treatment, and the right intervals can be used to maximize the teeth whitening regimen.

The down side, of course, is that it’s more expensive.  Because it’s faster, though, Zoom is often cheaper than the other professional teeth whitening alternatives and generally safer and nearly as effective as even the best of them.

This is important, since most dental plans don’t cover whitening and consider it cosmetic.  So what you pay matters to you.

Most Zoom patients who do normal at-home cleaning (brushing, flossing, etc.) only require Zoom treatments once a year or so to stay white and bright.

Natural Teeth Whitening Methods

All over the Internet, you’ll see ads proclaiming the “natural” and “safe’ and “cheap” remedies for whitening your teeth.  They’re everywhere and usually available “free” – after you buy a book or a quick guide or some other product, of course.

The truth is, some remedies actually work while others are extremely dangerous to good oral health.  Lemon juice, often touted as a teeth whitening method, is actually extremely detrimental to your teeth, leeching calcium from them and causing long-term harm.  Most fruit juices, especially citrics, in fact have this same property and should be avoided.

Natural whitening methods that do work are simpler than many would like to think.  One such natural teeth whitening method is the use of wood ash.  It’s not the tastiest or prettiest way to try to whiten your teeth and it’s definitely one of the less pleasant of the natural whitening methods.

The ash of hardwoods (yep, the leftovers from the fireplace) contain potassium hydroxide, one of the prime ingredients in over the counter and in-office dental soaks (tray teeth whitening) methods.  The natural method works, if you don’t do it too often (it could cause sensitivity), but it’s not exactly fun.  It’s ashes, after all.

Another method often mentioned for natural teeth whitening is strawberry juice.  This is not really adviseable for teeth whitening, though it does work.  The problem is that the sugars and acids from the strawberries can cause erosion of the enamel, which is definitely not good.  If used sparingly and thoroughly brushed and cleaned away with regular toothpaste, though, this natural whitening method can work.  It’s a lot of trouble, though, to save $10.

Finally, the often-touted and old faithful baking soda is mentioned as a natural whitening method.  In reality, baking soda does little for teeth whitening, but it does thoroughly clean teeth.  It’s abrasive, so using too much is a bad thing, but if you just wet your toothbrush and dip the end of the bristles into the baking soda (or bicarbonate of soda), it’ll do.  Most toothpastes contain some amount of baking soda, in fact.

Teeth Whitening Through Laser – Quick vs. Lasting

There are several laser tooth whitening systems in use in the dentists’ office.  Some are “pulse” lasers, some are broad spectrum, some are gel activators.  There are several methods and the one your dentist uses to do teeth whitening will depend on what’s available and what is to be done to whiten your teeth.

Fast laser treatments have been all the rage in teeth whitening, but new studies are showing that while it’s a faster treatment than in-clinic soaking (tray bleaching), it’s not necessarily better.  Or as good, even.

What’s being found is that the tooth whitening is not necessarily a bleaching, as previously though, but is actually a dehydration of the teeth from the intense light of the laser.  This dehydration leads to whitening, of course, but the laser tooth whitening can fade quickly as the teeth rehydrate after a few days.  Further questions of what it might be doing to affect enamel are also being raised.

Here’s why that is: bleach gel is usually applied to the teeth and then the laser is used to “burn off” the gel, theoretically forcing it into the teeth through heat.  In reality, most of the gel evaporates into the air, doing nothing to aid tooth whitening.  Some of it does, of course, get forced into the teeth as well.

The problem is that in most cases, that bleach is not enough and is not there long enough to do anything beyond a slim surface whitening.  The deeper coloration of the teeth (call the intrinsic coloration) is unchanged.  Further, the bleaching is so light it may not have any visual effect at all.

Most of the laser tooth whitening effect on many teeth appears to be the forcing of water from the teeth, dehydrating them.  This naturally lends a whiteness, but this new tooth whitening lasts only a few days while the teeth recover.

This is why the longer tray whitening methods seem to have a longer-lasting effect, though it is slower to appear.

What’s the Best Professional Teeth Whitening System?

You would think that the answer to this question would be relatively easy.  After all, dentists are doctors and so you likely assume that they have tested and proven one or the other as the best tooth whitening system.  Right?

There are soaking methods (bleaching), lasers, gel and light pulses, and so forth.  So which one works the best?

That question can’t be answered de facto.  Professional teeth whitening is more than just a method, it’s a consideration of your dentist’s examination of your teeth, what will likely work best, and what you can afford to use.  No method is the same for everyone, so one might be effective for one person, but a different teeth whitening system might be better for someone else.

Dentistry, like medicine, is all about probabilities.  Most dentists can’t say for certain that one thing is going to work all of the time, every time.  Fillings sometimes fall out, surgeries sometimes fail, methods sometimes are ineffective.  That’s just how it is.  Just as a doctor can only guess what type of medicine might work to help you, a dentist can only make an educated guess about the best tooth whitening method for your mouth.

With all of that, the best professional teeth whitening always comes from one source: a professional.  Your dentist can tell you which one will probably work for you, which one likely won’t, and what kind of benefit you can expect from one or the other.

Other services like teeth cleaning and scrubbing can often lead to the best tooth whitening you can find.  The dentist can also tell by the underlying color of your teeth (everyone’s is different whether a particular professional teeth whitening method is going to work well or not.

Overall, it’s your dentist who will be best consulted for the best tooth whitening for your needs.  He may prescribe a take-home kit, an intense in-office professional teeth whitening system, or something elese.

Everything You Need to Know About Tray Whitening

Whether you go into the dentist or you purchase an over-the-counter version, the most common form of tooth whitening methods (except for toothpaste) is “tray whitening.”  This method involves trays formed to fit your teeth and some kind of whitening or bleach gel.

At the dentist, these trays may be formed specifically to fit your mouth while over the counter versions will be generically sized.

How well the tray fits will effect how well the whitening works, of course, but in general if the tray covers the teeth up to the gums, it’s likely to work well enough.

Obviously, the fitted ones at the dentist will do a better job and will also minimize sensitivity to the gums and gum line–a common issue amongst those who have whitening done or do it themselves.  Often, the take-home trays that the dentist might provide, which are form-fitted, can be re-used with over the counter whitening gels (which your dentist may even recommend) after being sanitized.

The common kits usually contain the tooth trays themselves, teeth whitening gel in either one dose or multiple dose tubes, and optionally a rinse agent, which is usually a sensitivity reducer.

Tooth trays have been around since the early 1900s and are not new.  They’ve evolved and become more sophisticated, of course, but are basically the same in concept as they were in their early days.  The formulas for whitening, while based on the same chemicals, have advanced considerably, however.

Teeth whitening is big business and the company with the best formula (and marketing to go with it) will stand to reap great rewards.  Tooth trays and tray whitening kits have almost always fronted the market in use for in-home whitening.

For the money, most agree that tray whitening is still the most effective way to conduct teeth whitening for most people.  The custom-fit trays you get from your dentist are proven to be the most effective tooth trays, so many consider them worth the little bit of extra effort and money.

Tray whitening methods are definitely here to stay and will likely never be replaced by fancy laser or light-sensitive methods used in-office.