Serene Dental Center – What to Expect During a Teeth Whitening Session

The use of whitening products over the past decade has steadily risen. Part of this is because it’s so easy to get these products over the counter. But it’s also partly because social media has made it seem like you have to have a perfect smile to be popular.

If you’ve been insecure about your less than pearly white teeth, the world of social media can make you feel even more self-conscious. However, the color of your teeth is one of the easiest things to fix. It’s a slight problem with a simple solution that can have massive positive effects.

At Serene Dental Center, we know how your smile can affect your self-confidence. We want to help you get the whiter teeth you’ve been dreaming about!

Scheduling a whitening treatment with our office is quick and easy. From start to finish, your whiter smile doesn’t take much effort from you.

Our professional strength, top-grade products, and equipment make the road to a beautiful smile smooth and effective. What you might get with months of OTC product use can be achieved in one or two visits with a dentist’s teeth whitening.

When you book a teeth whitening service with Serene Dental Center, here’s what you can expect the process to look like.

Schedule a Check-Up First
Whitening products work because they have an active ingredient in them that works as a bleaching agent. This ingredient is a chemical, usually hydrogen peroxide. When it’s used right, it’s safe. But putting chemicals in your mouth should always be done with caution.

Your mouth could be perfectly healthy, but if you use a whitener wrong, it can damage your teeth or gums. Even if you use it as directed, but the product was made with substandard ingredients, your teeth and gums can be harmed. That’s why using an OTC product should only be done with a dentist’s recommendation.

The Importance of a Check-Up
Using a bleaching agent on your teeth when you have an underlying problem is very likely going to cause discomfort and/or increased sensitivity. Before you use an OTC product or have a whitening treatment, you should always have a dental exam.

Teeth bleaching with a dentist or at home can aggravate an existing oral health issue. Your dentist will check for things like cavities, any cracks or chips in a tooth, and gum disease signs. If any of these, or another problem, exist, you’ll need to get those fixed before your whitening treatment. If you don’t, it’s possible that the chemicals in the whitener could get in contact with the problem area and make it worse.

After a quick check-up and a fix for any problems going on, you’ll get to schedule your teeth whitening service!

Preparing For Your Appointment
The great thing about a professional treatment is that there aren’t many “teeth whitening before and after” FAQs to worry about. You’ll probably have questions like, “Should I brush my teeth before whitening?” and “How do they whiten your teeth at the dentist?”

You have questions. We have the answers right here to guide you.

Should I brush before my appointment? On the day of your appointment, you should brush and floss like normal. The dental hygienist will do a thorough cleaning anyway but stick to your normal oral health routine.
Can I eat before I get a whitening treatment? You can and should! You’ll be in our chair for about an hour for the whole process. We don’t want anyone getting hangry! Just make sure you’re done eating at least 30 minutes before your visit. When you eat, your enamel softens. It needs to be hard in order for the whitener to work. It takes about half an hour after chewing is done for that to happen.
How does the whitener work? All whiteners use the same scientific principles to work. Each product is applied with various methods and has its own ingredients. In general, though, they all have a bleaching agent. This agent whitens the dentin, a porous layer of enamel that changes the color of your teeth. To do this, the bleach has to expand the pores in the dentin, enter the layer, and gradually lighten the color.
Aren’t all whiteners the same? Many people think this is true, but it’s not. As with anything, if you don’t use quality ingredients, you’re not going to get quality results. Cheap whitening products can damage the enamel and gums in your mouth. This damage can be short-term, with just a little increased sensitivity. But it can also be permanent, causing your enamel to be rough and scratchy.
If you have any more questions about the teeth whitening service, feel free to ask your dentist when you get your check-up!

Getting Your Teeth Whitened: The Steps
After you check in to the front desk, you’ll head to the back for a cleaning by the hygienist. This part is important so that the whitening agent has a clean surface to work with. When the cleaning is over, we’ll start the safety protocols.

To prevent your lips and cheeks from touching the whitener, we place a retractor in your mouth. Once this is in place, we’ll apply some protectant gel to your gums. It’s normal for any whitener to spread over the gum line, and this layer of protection keeps the active ingredients from irritating your gums.

Our whitening products are safe, so if they do touch anything other than your teeth, there’s no need to worry. Since these tissues are very sensitive, we want to avoid any possible irritation, so we use precautions.

The final step is to apply the whitener. The goal is to get you the whitest results you can get in the least amount of time. To reach this goal, we combine our whitening product with a special light.

The light allows the bleaching agent to open the pores in the dentin wider in less time. The bleach then absorbs into the dentin faster, so it doesn’t need to stay on as long. This technique is the safest way for you to get lighter teeth, and it maximizes the effect of the products we use.

Depending on the severity of your discoloration, you might see incredible results after one treatment!

After Your Whitening Visit
Keeping your teeth white after your visit is up to you. With good oral hygiene habits, plaque and tartar can’t settle in your teeth as easily and discolor them. Your other habits matter, too. The dentist will talk to you about the best ways to prevent staining your teeth again so you can enjoy your new, white smile!

Regular check-ups and an occasional whitening touch up, if necessary, will keep your mouth healthy and your smile camera-ready. Contact our office at Serene Dental Center today to get started on the road to a confident, dazzling smile!