Dentist expounds on teeth whitening techniques
These days, having pearl white teeth to get the so-called Hollywood smile has become quite popular among Iranians, particularly among the younger generation.
This comes as normally with the approach of Iranian New Year, which starts on March 21, and Nowruz holidays, March 21-April 2, a larger number of people in Iran seek ways to whiten and align their teeth.
However, having white and aligned teeth is neither easy nor cheap. Such processes might have a number of side effects.
Speaking to Iran Daily, Leila Sedqi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Iranian General Dentists Association, elaborated on common teeth whitening and alignment techniques and listed the advantages and side effects of each.
Also the scientific and executive secretary of the 12th Congress of Iranian General Dentists Association, Sedqi said for those people who have aligned teeth and are just displeased with their color, whitening, also known as bleaching, is one of the simplest techniques.
She added office bleaching and home bleaching are two conventional techniques for teeth whitening.
Sedqi said a bleaching material with a density of 30 percent is used in the former method which is employed by a dentist at the office, whereas, in the other technique — the latter — the dentist makes a mold for the individuals’ teeth and thenceforth, the patients should use a bleaching material with a density of 10 percent-20 percent at home.
“Teeth whitened through bleaching tend to restore their original color after a period of six months to two years depending on the individuals’ diet and lifestyle, as the impact of this technique fails to be permanent.”
To maintain the whiteness of teeth after bleaching, a combination of home and office bleaching techniques can be used, in addition to paying great attention to the diet, she said.
Expounding on this mixed method, Sedqi said at first, patients receive an office bleaching therapy and thence, they use the home bleaching technique regularly once in a month to maintain the whiteness of their teeth.
Turning to the side effects of bleaching, she said bleaching exerts adverse impacts on dentins and teeth’s pigments.
Sedqi advised patients to use fluoride mouthwash to minimize the harms caused by bleaching.
“For those seeking more enduring whiteness and more correctly aligned teeth — to have the so-called smile line, methods involving using composite resin and porcelain laminate veneers are more suitable.”
She added composite resin veneer is a layer that is applied to the surface of the patient’s tooth.
Sedqi said in this technique, if teeth have no raggedness, the dentist will not need to smooth their surface using a dental drill or diamond disc and can simply apply the composite resin veneer to the patient’s teeth.
“The other method involves the use of porcelain laminate veneer. In this technique, the dentist makes a small cut, not that deep to scrape the enamel and dentin, on the surface of the tooth. Then, a mold is made based on the size and shape of the tooth. Next, the mold is sent to a lab to make the veneer. The advantage of this technique, compared to the one dealing with the composite resin veneer, is that the color of porcelain laminate veneer on teeth does not change over the course of time given that it is made of porcelain and is heated and glazed in a furnace.”
On the disadvantages of this method, she said the cut given to the surface of the tooth is deeper than the one made in the technique using composite resin veneers.
Sedqi added however, currently new porcelain laminate veneers are being produced and, gradually, replacing the old ones, whose placement on the surface of the tooth does not need a cut longer than half a millimeter.
The other shortcoming of this technique, she said, is that when the porcelain laminae veneer is designed, the dentist is no longer responsible for its making, which is done by a Dental prosthetist in a lab.
“This may lead to the shape of the veneer failing to satisfy the dentist or the patient. Higher costs, compared to the rest of the techniques, is the other disadvantage of this method.”
She said since the shape and form of teeth undergo changes prior to applying composite resin veneer and porcelain laminate veneer to their surface, in case, for any given reason, these layers are to be removed, the teeth fail to be as beautiful as they were, and therefore, have to be replaced as soon as possible.
“The restoration of composite resin veneer can be done at the dentist’s office. However, in terms of porcelain laminate veneers the possibility of carrying out the restoration process depends on the degree of the damages caused to the veneer. In case the damage is minor, composite resin can be used to restore the veneer. But if the damage is severe, the entire porcelain veneer has to be removed from the surface of the teeth and a new mold is required to be made.”
She said that on the whole, the technique involving the use of composite resin veneer to the teeth is the most popular method for tooth whitening given its advantages such as reducing the harm to the teeth, being easily removable, involving lower costs and greater durability compared to bleaching.