Sunnyvale dentist explains how professional teeth whitening works to brighten your smile

Bright, white teeth are one of the key components of a great smile. People instinctively know when someone’s smile looks healthy, but many of the things we do daily, like consuming coffee and tea, can dull and discolor our teeth and take the vibrance out of our smile. Fortunately, at Todd S. Adams DDS, patients in the Sunnyvale, California area have multiple options for brightening their smile quickly, safely, and effectively.

What causes tooth stains?

While most people think of red wine, tea, and other pigmented foods and beverages as the sole cause of tooth stains, discoloration and staining can also be due to a variety of other factors, including:

• Poor dental hygiene
• Smoking or chewing tobacco
• Getting older
• Taking certain medications
• Overexposure to fluoride as a child
• Traumatic injuries to the mouth

How teeth whitening works

There are more options than ever before for whitening your smile, but they all typically have one shared ingredient: peroxide. There are multiple types of peroxide, such as hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide, which have volatile oxygen molecules that easily react with other substances. When used on your teeth, they break apart the bonds that are holding the stains onto the enamel of your teeth, releasing the stains from both the surface and the inner tubules of the teeth for a brighter smile.

Professional whitening: a safer and more effective option

While over-the-counter options for tooth whitening contain the same active ingredients as professional teeth whitening, they typically do not have the optimal concentration to provide safe yet rapid results. Some kits have too low of a concentration of peroxide to produce good results, whereas others are too highly concentrated and can cause damage to your teeth, weakening the enamel and potentially causing unsightly white spots. With professional whitening by Dr. Todd Adams and the team, we can closely monitor the whitening process to ensure that you are achieving the best results in a safe manner while taking steps to reduce issues such as tooth sensitivity that can occur with the tooth whitening process. 

To schedule your teeth whitening consultation, call the dental practice of Todd S. Adams DDS today at (408) 355-9292!

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