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- Improve your smile with Laser Tooth Whitening
- By: JESSICA THOMSON
Another name for Tooth Whitening is tooth bleaching. This practice of restoring the original color of the teeth is a common process in general dentistry, but is gaining wide spread popularity in the field of cosmetic dentistry. Almost every one believes that a perfect smile is incomplete without white teeth. The color of a child's teeth is comparatively a lot whiter than the teeth of an adult, for obvious reasons. There are a number of reasons why the color of the teeth darkens as the person grows older, such as changes in mineral structure of the tooth (the enamel which is the outermost layer of the tooth becomes more porous), and the stains being left on the teeth by tobacco, bacterial pigments, and foodstuffs. The process of whitening or bleaching teeth involves the use of oxidizing agents such as carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide. These peroxide based agents are used make the teeth whiter by lightening the shade of the tooth. This is how it works: although the enamel is very hard and has a rod like structure, it is porous. The oxidizing agent used infiltrates this porosity and oxidizes the stain deposits. After a certain period of time the layer beneath the enamel, which is known as dentin, also becomes bleached. But the effects of bleaching last for a limited time only. This can go up to several months, but the time period may be shortened by consuming tea and coffee, and also by smoking cigarettes. There are two primary ways of getting the teeth whitened by this process. One is carried out by the dentist, and is called the in office system. The other one is carried out by the patient on his own, and it is called the at home system. In the case of the in office system the concentration of the oxidizing agent used by the dentist is high and is applied over a short period of time. This gives results in a shorter amount of time as well. There are two types of bleaching agents which are used, either hydrogen peroxide itself, or carbamide peroxide which converts into hydrogen peroxide after breaking down in the mouth. The gel used for bleaching has a carbamide peroxide concentration of thirty five percent, which is more or less the same as twelve percent concentration of hydrogen peroxide. But in the case of the at home system, the concentration of oxidizing agent is low and has to be applied over a longer period of time.