Are You a Good Candidate for Teeth Whitening?

Video Transcript

"Hi! This is Dr. Alida Smisek on behalf of expertvillage.com. I'm here to talk to you about tooth whitening tips and techniques. In this clip, we're going to discuss how to know whether you're a good candidate for teeth whitening. Basically, there are 2 types of stained teeth; intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic staining is caused by things that we can control such as smoking, the types of foods we eat, coffees, teas, things that we drink. All these things cause staining on the teeth. It's this type of stain that responds very well to the whitening products that available. Intrinsic staining is staining that developed as your teeth were developing. Either due to trauma or certain medications that might have been consumed during the formation process of the tooth. This type of staining unfortunately does respond well to whitening products and you may need to choose other options to make your teeth look whiter. If you've had previous dental work done on your teeth such as a root canal or a lot of fillings, these things may not respond well to whitening and you may need to discuss with your dentist other ways to make those teeth look whiter. Also, you need to decide whether you're going to be a compliant participate in the whitening process if you're going to do a take home type of whitening procedure. You really need to follow the instructions and use the products for the amount of time required in order to get a good result. If you have a lot of habits that cause staining such as smoking, you want to consider whether you can get those habits under control after bleaching or you will get staining happening again. Also, if you have a lot of tooth sensitivity you want to discuss this with a dental professional prior to bleaching. There may be reasons why you have the sensitivity and unfortunately, whitening can cause sensitivity to be heightened, and that's an important thing to consider before you do whitening."