Often, we can be our own harshest critic – and that includes our very own smile.

That can put a damper on one of our most joyous expressions. Instead of sharing our happiness with everyone, we hide our teeth behind our hands or keep our lips closed.

At Bow Island Dental, we believe everyone should be able to love their own smile!

As dentists, we hear a lot of complaints from people who aren’t happy with their teeth. One of the main complaints is tooth colour.

Of course, there are many oral health products out there today that claim to whiten teeth, but not all of them are as effective as the marketing leads you to believe.

To help you wade through the options, we’ll go over some main choices for tooth whitening, and see how they will (or won’t) help you.

Whitening toothpaste

Whitening Toothpaste

This is probably one of the most popular whitening products out there. The good news is that whitening toothpaste does work – or at least the reputable ones do. However, there is a qualification that goes along with that statement.

Whitening toothpaste works to lift stains (from things like coffee) from the enamel of your teeth. However, they cannot make your teeth brighter than you were born with. Also, if a stain penetrates too deep into your enamel, whitening toothpaste won’t be able to fix it.

Also, some ‘whitening’ toothpastes actually use blue colouring, called blue covarine, to make your teeth look brighter immediately. This ‘change’ does not last long or actually change the colour of your tooth enamel. So, it’s always a good practice to check the ingredients before you buy.

Over-the-counter whitening kits

A good at-home whitening kit is able to go deeper than a toothpaste to lift stains. However, it is still limited in its ability to lift stains. The main ingredient in any whitener is peroxide. By law, over-the-counter kits are limited to only having 0.1% peroxide in their product.

For those who only want a small whitening lift for their smile, these over-the-counter options can provide that.

Take-home whitening trays

Our sister dental office in Coaldale offers Phillips Zoom! take-home whitening trays. We’ve personally seen the difference with these and can testify that they do work. All it requires is a dental visit to get your custom-made tooth tray and a little bit of discipline to follow the instructions.

This can make a big difference in your smile, but it does take one to two weeks for results to happen.

In-office whitening procedures

This is the most powerful way to transform the colour of your smile in the shortest amount of time. At Coaldale Dental, you can get dramatically whiter teeth in just one dental visit. To book an appointment or for more information, head over to their website! It’s just a quick drive from our office here in Bow Island.