teeth whitening

LegacyUser

Hey,

I have several marks on my teeth I'd like to get rid of....its not a disaster area but still....can anyone recommend anything available here to get my teeth all back to the same colour they were many a year ago?

Cheers

Sarn

The best bet is to go to the dentist for a clean. I tend to drink very black tea which stains my teeth in places, a trip to the dentist and voila gone.

To try and keep my teeth somewhat white I use a Philips Sonicare toothbrush (with whitening toothpaste). It's supposed to whiten your teeth over time (it's not something I've noticed greatly), but it does give you that "I've just left the dentist feel" everytime which is great. Once you get used to it using a regular toothbrush is like brushing your teeth with your fingers.

There are other methods involving gum shields and solutions to whiten your teeth as well.

keu

I don't find the clean the dentist gives does anything to whiten my teeth..but I find pearl drops tooth polish works wonders.
can buy it in any supermarket or chemist.

Johnny_the_fox

doesnt whitening toothpaste (such as Pearl drops etc) not damage teeth? :eek:

keu

well..it says for daily use, so I would think its not as abrasive as general lacquer removing products, but i do find my teeth are more sensative.
Might be best to use alternativley with your regular paste

(but if you want white teeth it works)

Jim

They strip a layer of enamel off your teeth, exposing the whiter layer underneath. I think.

keu

yea, they do. They sell kits which are a lot harsher, but the daily tooth polish is kinder. (not as abrasive)

If you want to get rid of stains, it works. dentists use the same process when whitening your teeth. (note not cleaning~ whitening)

tooth enamel grows back afaik.

Calibos

tooth enamel grows back afaik.

Indeed it does. This is the biggest scandal of the last century. That dentists have been involved in a conspiracy with the military industrial complex (or whomever makes amalgam) to convince the public of the need for fillings,when.......you wont believe this, but its true.......in fact, if left alone holes in your teeth will be filled back in with newly grown enamel in a matter of days!!! Instead they convince us to needlessly pay a fortune to them to insert metal stuff in the holes in our teeth!!

Tell all your friends, the truth is out there!!

keu

heh...
ok here's my logic.

Enamel is the outer layer of the exposed tooth. It is a hard, thin, translucent layer of calcified substance that envelops and protects the dentin (the main portion of the tooth structure) of the crown of the tooth.

Enamel is the hardest substance in the body and is almost entirely composed of calcium salts. The hardness of enamel is an important property as the main role of enamel is to protect the softer underlying dentin of the tooth. Enamel also serves as the surface for chewing, grinding and crushing of food and this is another reason for its hardness.

Enamel has the highest concentration, for any structure in the body, of mineral at ~90%. The proteins in enamel are not found elsewhere and they are called enamelins and amelogenins. The high mineral content (mature enamel has no cells and is not alive) makes it the hardest component and also most resistant to bacterial attack since there is little organic matter present. A flaw of enamels hardness though is that it is prone to chipping and splitting, as it is a brittle substance.

It is the outer calcified layer of the teeth. (which is why my mommy always told me to drink milk, makes your teeth strong and healthy)
Surely if you look after your teeth and have a healthy calcium intake, you can maintain the level of durability.
I'm thinking ivory and elephant tusks and nails here.

When you go to the dentist for whitening procedure, they strip the first layer of enamel and apply a bleech compound. If it was so dangerous why do they do it?
After a few years your teeth are back to where they started, the new outer layer builds up resistance after a while.

(so perhaps grow back was the wrong term, but the softer layers underneath will build up resiliance again and become the harder outer layer after a while)

Paddy20

Dr. X wrote:

Hey,

I have several marks on my teeth I'd like to get rid of....its not a disaster area but still....can anyone recommend anything available here to get my teeth all back to the same colour they were many a year ago?

Cheers

A lot of factors must be considered. Teeth become naturally discoloured as we become older. Do you smoke. Drink a lot tea etc.

I hate it when I see individuals of a certain age with sparkling white molars that must have cost them a fortune. It is simply not natural.

A little more info, might help posters give you the answer you are looking for ?..

MisterAnarchy

I am having major problems with my teeth.
No matter what I do I cant stop the decay.
I brush 3 times a day with Sensodyne whitening gel.
I like sweet cake and I have a failing for jelly babies but thats about it .
Every time I go to my dentist he wants to put in a filling .
He said white fillings are bad and one of mine fell out .
Lost the tooth over it and had to get 2 fillings .
I lead a healthy lifestyle and I am pretty fit.
Just looked in the mirror and saw some decay in a tooth but I know if I go to the dentist he will fill it,if not it may be worse.
When I wake up most mornings my mouth has residues of blood in it.
I reckon its to do with genes .

keu

dentists in this country are crap imho.
I have a friend whos had two doses of surgery on her teeth and two years later they tell her the problem was not with her teeth it was her gums, so now they are just going to give her dentures. See a doctor instead, will check your overall health and look for any deficencies (sp)

after that go see a proper dentist, who might sugest a sealant, which will help prevent further decay.

Sarn

I should have clarified, the cleaning will remove (most) built up stain deposits/marks on your teeth not actually whiten them. It's easily done while getting a check-up (usually part of the process).

Cutting out or reducing foodstuffs that stain your teeth such as coffee, tea, chocolate is also supposed to help. Whether or not you want to deny yourself those little pleasures for the sake of your teeth is another matter.

Paddy20

Falsies are best. I find anyway. So, get the damned things out. They are rotting in your mouth and stink as well.

"Be gone with them I say" Never had "toothache" since mine were ripped out.

Gordon

"I agree with paddy, no matter" what state your teeth are in, be they 'good or bad' you must pull them out. It's the only way to be assured of having no problems with your teeth.

Delphi91

As far as I know it is possible to get teeth bleached. A friend of mine has a tooth which is dead and she gets it re-bleached every couple of years or so - painless proceudre that is done in a few visits.

Mike

eth0_

Calibos wrote:

Indeed it does. This is the biggest scandal of the last century. That dentists have been involved in a conspiracy with the military industrial complex (or whomever makes amalgam) to convince the public of the need for fillings,when.......you wont believe this, but its true.......in fact, if left alone holes in your teeth will be filled back in with newly grown enamel in a matter of days!!! Instead they convince us to needlessly pay a fortune to them to insert metal stuff in the holes in our teeth!!

Tell all your friends, the truth is out there!!

Yes! Tell everyone! Just like if you got grazed with a bullet or had a knife wound, YOUR BODY WILL REPAIR ITSELF! Meanwhile, you inevitably get an infection. The dentist drills and fills to remove the damage that's been caused by bacteria.

I'd advise you to stop taking conspiracy stories so seriously mate.

SantaHoe

.in fact, if left alone holes in your teeth will be filled back in with newly grown enamel in a matter of days!!!

lol, I'm sorry but that's complete bol|ox, I've had cavities that I was waiting months to get filled... they didn't heal up in the meantime, even though I was brushing three times a day to stop them from getting bigger... plenty of milk aswell.

SantaHoe

Also Dr.X, I'd say if these stains don't come out from brushing, you should just bite the bullet and go to the dentist... apparently some stains are beneath the enamel and would have to be drilled out and replaced by a white filling... marks might also be bleached off, although bleaching is pretty expensive if you want to do it properly with a dentist... home bleaching kits can have gum-shields that don't fit properly (the dentist will make a mould of your mouth and make you a properly fitting shield) and the bleach leaking onto your gums can cause a lot of irritation... maybe even damage, I'm not too sure... my dentist advised against using a DIY bleaching kit, but then he would since he stands to make a few hundred euro out of it :rolleyes: ... sounds plausable though.
I plan to get mine bleached when I have a few hundred euro to blow on something for myself
But really, go to the dentist and get the proper story, I'm sure he/she would have seen that kind of stain before and know how best to treat it.

RicardoSmith

MisterAnarchy wrote:

I am having major problems with my teeth.
No matter what I do I cant stop the decay.
I brush 3 times a day with Sensodyne whitening gel.
I like sweet cake and I have a failing for jelly babies but thats about it .
Every time I go to my dentist he wants to put in a filling .
He said white fillings are bad and one of mine fell out .
Lost the tooth over it and had to get 2 fillings .
I lead a healthy lifestyle and I am pretty fit.
Just looked in the mirror and saw some decay in a tooth but I know if I go to the dentist he will fill it,if not it may be worse.
When I wake up most mornings my mouth has residues of blood in it.
I reckon its to do with genes .

Go see a dental hygentist. They will see what your cleaning regime is and suggest ways of improving it. They'll probably look at your diet and suggest ways of improving that also.

Calibos

eth0_ wrote:

Yes! Tell everyone! Just like if you got grazed with a bullet or had a knife wound, YOUR BODY WILL REPAIR ITSELF! Meanwhile, you inevitably get an infection. The dentist drills and fills to remove the damage that's been caused by bacteria.

I'd advise you to stop taking conspiracy stories so seriously mate.

Oh sweet lord Etho!! I know I forgot to end my post with a smiley, but holy jebus, was it not obvious it was a sarcastic post??


On a side note though, I think I am receiving alien communication from my filling and I 'Know' the government is trying to cover it up.

eth0_

No...it wasn't all that obvious actually. This *is* boards...a lot of nutters reside here :P

Going Demented

Go to boots and buy Rapid White Whitening Toothpaste. I think i paid about 8 Euro for it. Maybe a bit more, bit less i'm not sure. It's just the normal toothpaste, not the gumshield type thing. It felt kind of harsh, but used it twice a day. In between when i had to brush my teeth during the day i used Pearl Drops. Now a month or two later they are way better than they were. (My teeth weren't like black but i smoke so there was some stains and found that toothpaste really does work, it doesn't work miracles but it's better than some other things i've tried).