One of the most commonly asked query of every other patient that visits me is , “Daakter sahab kitna bhi brush kare daant safed nahi ho rahe… aap whitening kar do..”
Sigh Sigh Sigh………….
If only whitening of teeth was as easy as what it’s thought out to be! Every individual case differs and has to be assessed whether whitening or bleaching of teeth is even needed in that patient or not.
The common practice of clean up, which we recommend, is basically removal of tartar and stains from our teeth, followed by a quick polishing of teeth, not to give it a bright shine but mainly as the use of ultrasonic scaler inadvertently results in minor scratches on the tooth surface, which should be polished out to delay adherence of any stain or tartar on the cleaned tooth surface. This practice of a clean up is advised quite regularly, at least once a year, mainly because there are some areas where your brush can’t reach no matter how hard you try and secondly because of salivary gland opening deposits mainly on the tongue facing surface of your lower teeth, even sometimes in cases of crowded teeth where a complete access to all teeth surface whilst brushing isn’t possible.
This is safe, is healthy for the teeth and gums and should be done regularly, unless of course your dentist feels otherwise. Few people complain that their teeth become loose or mobile posts clean up.. Aaah, that’s simply because you waited too long to get an oral prophylaxis and let the tartar accumulate over a quite a big portion of your tooth/teeth at the cost of the underlying bone and gums ,thanks to your delay in getting a clean up done much much earlier!! Allow the dentist to assess your case before going in for a clean up. The most common complaint post oral prophylaxis is gaps between your lower front teeth, with the tongue playing there all the time. That’s only because the tartar which was accumulated there has now been removed. Keep that area clean and massage your gums with a finger and do hot water gargles to maintain the health of the surrounding gums.
Now let’s discuss whitening of teeth. That magical wand that the dentist waves to give you a sparkling smile.
Whitening is basically bleaching of teeth using a chemical on the enamel surface of your teeth along with ultraviolet light exposure on that surface. It’s results are immediate, fantastic, temporary and may leave you with a mild sensitivity for a few days post procedure. It isn’t advisable to get your teeth bleached often, get it done occasionally and use a sensitive toothpaste post procedure for a few days.
Another very important factor with regards to the colour of teeth is the shade of your skin! It’s true. A fair skinned person’s teeth will always appear a tad yellow whereas a dark skinned person’s teeth will appear whiter! This is because the colour of the teeth is always seen in contrast with your skin!!
So next time you go in for your annual dental check up, don’t insist on “safed daant chahiye” and let the dentist advise you on what’s actually needed and hopefully, this article can guide you too with it.
Until next time folks, brush twice, gargle post meals and let those pearls shine.
Dr. Dharam Popat has done his Bachelor’s in Dental Surgery from Yerala Medical Trust’s Dental College at Navi Mumbai and International Post Graduate program in Cosmetic Dentistry from New York University. He is practicing at Opera House in Mumbai since 14 years.