Teeth Whitening at Gilreath Family Dentistry Marietta
Teeth whitening is one of the most popular cosmetic dental procedures we do at Gilreath Family Dentistry Marietta. Bleaching is very affordable and can make a huge difference in your smile. The system we use is a hybrid procedure put together by Dr. Gilreath to achieve the very best results possible. It is comprised of a great bleaching gel, home trays, and an in-office treatment when necessary.
First, we use KoR bleach, which is known for its kindness to the tooth and its profound bleaching potential. The bleach arrives to us one day after it is made, on dry ice to assure its potency. This is the only company that does this. Second, dentists Marietta produce specially customized trays for the at-home bleaching component of the system–the technique we use for making the trays is all digital and was designed by Dr. Gilreath. These trays are very different from the average trays you get from most dentists. We start with a digital scan of your teeth using one of our intraoral scanners. No messy gooey impressions here! With our digital system, we put a small reservoir in the tray, so that the bleach has a place to sit. We also put a small seal at the neck of the teeth, so that saliva won’t leak in and the bleach won’t leak out. Third, we have an in-office system from KoR. Together, these components make up a powerful system that will produce beautiful results you’ll be proud of.
Virtually everyone is a good candidate for whitening/bleaching procedures. Just about anyone can benefit from bleaching. As a rule, the darker the color of your teeth, the more difficult it is to produce great results. In particular dark grays and red shades are particularly resistant to bleaching. If you have tetracycline staining (caused by taking tetracycline when you were a child), you may have been told that it is impossible to bleach your teeth. That was true only a few years ago, but as bleaching techniques have advanced, we have found that even more difficult colors can now be bleached though the procedure takes longer. In the event that your teeth cannot be bleached, porcelain veneers are often the best choice to improve your smile.
Just as skin color varies from person to person, so does the color of teeth. Teeth are usually at their whitest early in life and as we age, our teeth get darker. This is primarily due to two reasons. First, as we age, our teeth pick up internal discoloration from substances such as Iron that is found in our blood. The blood circulation to our teeth decreases as we age, and it becomes more difficult for our body to “flush out” the discoloration substances and so they remain in our teeth and build up to darken the color. Second, we all loose a certain amount of enamel on our teeth as we age. This is caused by things we eat and drink (such as carbonated or acid beverages and hard or acidic foods). As we lose enamel on our front teeth, more of the darker internal structure shows through. This causes our teeth to appear darker. Both of these reasons are why our teeth appear darker and darker as we age. In addition to this aging phenomena, some people just have darker teeth from birth. This is caused by darker pigments occurring naturally in your teeth.
Over the years, we have used many bleaching products in an effort to stay current with the almost yearly advances. We have been a Britesmile provider (which uses a light to activate the bleach) and we have used various concentrations of products with various delivery methods. As of this date, we feel that KöR bleaching protocol is the most effective, kindest to the teeth and tissues and longest lasting. Depending on your tooth color and history of prior bleaching, we offer two different methods to bleach your teeth–“in-office” and “at-home”.
What’s the procedure?
The procedure is easy.
- We make a digital scan of your teeth (no gooey impressions)
- We digitally design trays for you
- You wear the trays with bleach in them every night for about 2 weeks
- We evaluate your results and give you more bleach if necessary OR if necessary, we do in-office bleaching
Often, the at-home tray procedure is all that is necessary. Patients are often thrilled with the results. For those people who need a little more results, we can use the “in-office” procedure.
KöR is a wonderful treatment for patients aged 14 and up. Safe and reliable with profound whitening results. If you would like a FREE, no-obligation consultation to see if KöR is right for you, please give us a call at (770) 796-7081.
All bleaching systems require that you do yearly maintenance sessions at home to maintain your whitened color. In fact, with the KöR protocol, we provide you at home custom bleaching trays that you can use for yearly touch ups. Once you bleach, you can be all but certain that your teeth will never return to the dark shade where they began. If you are a red wine, tea or coffee drinker or if you smoke or use other tobacco products, it is important that you use the appropriate tooth paste to help remove these stains in between your normal cleanings. At Gilreath Family Dentistry, we will recommend some specific toothpastes for you to use to help keep your teeth their brightest as well as touch up bleaching gels that will quickly and easily get your teeth back to their whitest look.
Crest White Strips do work however, because they use a low concentration peroxide gel in preformed strips, they do not work as well as a professional system. In addition, because the strips do not offer any way to keep saliva from diluting the bleaching material, it is impossible for Crest White Strips or other non-professional products to work as effectively as those we have at Gilreath Family Dentistry.
If you would like to find out if you or a family member is a good candidate for teeth whitening or bleaching, contact our Marietta Teeth Whitening Specialists today to schedule a consultation. We look forward to serving you with top-quality dental care.