BEAUTY: TRIED & TESTED
Sinelizwi has her teeth whitened
As a caffeine addict who also enjoys the odd glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, my teeth have become a bit stained. I’ve changed toothpastes several times to find one that would make my teeth sparkling white again – turns out toothpaste has only mild abrasives; it scrapes your teeth kind-of-clean but doesn’t make much of an impact in terms of whitening.
So I decided to have them whitened at The Cosmetic and Dental Emporium in Cape Town. The procedure takes about two hours. ‘Once the hydroperoxide [a highly concentrated bleaching agent] is applied, it takes three 15-minute sessions, depending on how much of the sensitivity build-up you can bear,’ says dental surgeon and aesthetic dentistry specialist Dr Wim de Beer.
The bleaching material ‘opens up’ your tooth to the bleach, and it stays open for 48 hours. This is what causes the sensitivity, but the use of fluoride toothpaste ‘closes’ the tooth again and the sensitivity diminishes.