Do you need to treat tooth stains? Whitening procedures can restore your smile if you have stained, dull, or discolored teeth. Teeth whitening treatment in our Dallas, TX office is a cosmetic dental treatment that can lift tooth stains.
At Henderson Family Dentistry, we provide whitening treatments that use high-quality active ingredients for patients to achieve brighter smiles.
What Causes Tooth Stains?
The darker tissue of your teeth, the dentin, can become exposed as the outer layer of enamel is worn away. The effects of aging, caffeine, and tobacco can also wear away your enamel.
Products like coffee and tea, berries, and soy sauce are notorious for staining teeth. Over time, teeth become more absorbent and vulnerable to staining from food and other substances.
One type of stain—caused by traumatic injuries, medications, and fluorosis—begins inside the tooth; brushing and flossing don’t help. Another type of stain—one that can be more easily attacked by brushing, flossing, and rinsing—is caused by external factors such as foods.
Types of Tooth Stains
Whitening agents change the color of your teeth but are only effective on certain types of stains. For example, bleaching agents have difficulty removing brownish or grayish stains. These products also are not as effective on pitted or badly discolored teeth.
Tooth stains are intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic stains are found inside the tooth. They can happen if you take certain medications, have too much fluoride when your teeth are forming, or experience trauma to a tooth. These stains are harder to remove because they are part of the tooth itself.
Extrinsic stains, on the other hand, are on the outside of the tooth. They come from things like coffee, tea, red wine, smoking, or eating foods with strong colors. These stains are usually easier to get rid of with good brushing, whitening toothpaste, or professional cleanings at the dentist.
Teeth Whitening in Dallas, TX
More and more people today are choosing tooth-whitening procedures to reverse the effects of aging and stains from food and tobacco.
Some commercially available “whitening toothpaste” can remove stains and make teeth a few shades brighter. However, many of these products have abrasive substances that can wear away your tooth’s enamel. Store-bought teeth whitening kits may not work at all for some patients.
Professional teeth whitening often uses whitening gel with higher concerns about active ingredients like hydrogen peroxide. At the same time, barriers over the gums help reduce the risk of gum irritation during treatment.
We perform safe and effective care in our office with professional whitening. Done correctly, tooth whitening can last as long as five years. We have several options, both take-home and in-office procedures. In-office teeth whitening provides results in just one day.
Take-home teeth whitening can offer results after several weeks. We will provide you with whitening trays and gel with instructions on how long to wear the trays each day.
Alternatives to Teeth Whitening
We cannot whiten restorations such as crowns, bridges, bonding, and tooth-colored fillings. However, we will recommend porcelain veneers or dental bonding for patients who want to address tooth stains. Veneers are thin porcelain shells we bond to one or more teeth in the smile line.
Dental bonding is similar to veneers but is best for smaller cosmetic issues. We may recommend tooth bonding if you have a single discolored tooth. Bonding uses tooth-colored materials that we shape and cure to your tooth.
Brighten Your Smile
Contact Henderson Family Dental for a brighter smile at 214-253-4868. Feel free to schedule a dental appointment with us online.