On my first trip to ski at Aspen, and the first get away with my fiancée, I
had the misfortune of hitting a small tree - mostly with my face. My front teeth hurt
severely after the accident. While nothing was broken, my two front top teeth hurt for
days. Upon returning home several days later, I made an appointment with my dentist. She
pointed out that while my teeth would heal from the impact just fine, she asked if it ever
bothered me that my teeth were not all the same brightness... even after cleaning.
Admittedly, I thought she was just selling me some
treatment I didn't need. But when I brought this up to my fiancée, she agreed with the
dentist that I'd have a better smile. My dentist later explained that not everyone's teeth
maintain the same color, but in my case, it was because when I smoke, I always bring the
smoke into my mouth from the same side. Since I smoke a good deal, and since I've been
doing so for so long, the difference was noticeable. My dentist used a bleaching solution
gradually on just the teeth affected by the staining, and now my smile is bright white all
around.
I'm still not happy about hitting that tree, but at
least some good came of it.
Jason, Pittsburgh
Next: Talk about tooth
discoloration and corrective measures
- Introduction to tooth whitening
- How much can a tooth be whitened?
- What causes a tooth to become discolored?
- Procedure description: cosmetic tooth whitening (bleaching)
- What types of tooth whitening are there?
- How much does tooth whitening cost?
- What are the pros and cons of the procedure?
- Before and after photos - tooth whitening
- Personal stories from bleaching patients
- Discuss tooth whitening on the Cosmetic Dentistry Message
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