My teeth are healthy but unattractive. While I have always taken excellent care of my teeth, I never made enough money to make them pretty until recently. I saw an advertisement for a kit called Premium Home Teeth Whitening. I wondered if you think it is a good product. Then, after I whiten my teeth, I thought I could deal with the chips and gaps. I’m not sure what I’ll do with those yet. So, if you have advice for that, I’m all ears…or eyes in this case.
Camille
Dear Camille,
I’m glad you wrote. I think I can be of help to you here. Let’s start with Premium Home Whitening. The main ingredient is 35% Carbamide Peroxide. This is an effective whitening agent, so no problem there. I have three concerns though. First, the blue light. It doesn’t look to be effective at all. My guess is it is there merely for psychological reasons only. I don’t like that. I’d prefer a company or practitioner to be transparent and not try to make things seem better than they are. A second concern is the trays. These are more DIY, which means there won’t be a good seal. That means that some whitening gel will get out and some saliva will get in, all of which is will weaken the whitening gel’s effectiveness. Finally, is the price. It seems pretty steep and close to what you’d get with professional teeth whitening.
Your Choices for a Smile Makeover
Option one is to have your teeth whitened and then deal with the chips and gaps. The typical solution to that is to have dental bonding done. A second option is more expensive but will do much more. Porcelain veneers can change everything about your smile at once. They can change the shape size and color of your teeth simultaneously. It is what people go to for a complete smile makeover.
Whichever you decide on, it is important that you use a skilled and artistic cosmetic dentist. Because there isn’t a recognized specialty in cosmetic dentistry you will have to do some careful checking. I would look at the smile galleries on their website. If they don’t have one, they are not invested in cosmetic dentistry and I wouldn’t use them.
If they do have one, you will want to see the before and after pictures to get an idea of what type of results they get. If you are not absolutely thrilled with them, move on and look for another dentist. If you love them, then I would call the office and double-check they are actual cases the dentist has done and not stock photos.
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